I Do (Not)
by tiramisuspice
Summary: Marriage is for suckers. And so is love.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Yeah… so this happened. So sorry about the multiple stories at once, BUT, once an idea hits me, a whole story hits me, and I physically can't stop myself from writing it. (Also, one of my bigger stories has less than 10 chapters left, so I kind of felt it was time to add another one to make my life more difficult ahaahaha xD Whatever! It's summertime and I'm being irresponsible!) LOL this is a bad idea… But I can't help it!**

 **Inspiration for layout of chapters (short scenes) comes from smileslikesunset's brilliant story 'Country Nights, City Lights' which you all should definitely check out if you enjoy slow burn Lucaya and Maya moving to Texas AUs! :3 Layout won't quite be the same but chapters will all be short and around 1K words or so. This story will be slow burning as well!  
**

 **Based on and inspired by The Wedding Planner which I just saw for the first time ever! I watched the movie… and then I thought, Mary loved love. But what if the wedding planner doesn't? What if she's a cynic? And this story was born xD So don't expect the storyline or characters to match up entirely with the movie's ahahah. I just wanted to write a messed up little word vomit-y story because I CAN :)  
**

 **Warning : This is a _Lucaya_ story, but there is Rucas in this story. **

**Rated T for Tactful or Tactless?  
**

 **Enjoy loves! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"I don't know what to do Maya!" Mr. Hinkles exclaimed, looking frenzied and scared, "The wedding is starting in ten minutes, and she's not anywhere!"

"Calm down, sir." Maya said soothingly to frazzled older man, a confident and consoling smile on her face as she gently patted his hand. "We have this under control. Just stand here and wait. We'll find your daughter."

He nodded, licking his lips nervously. "Alright."

"Stay. Here." She repeated, not just to him but also the bridesmaids and groomsmen looking put off. "And get in you guys' positions. I'll have Stacie back to you in no time."

She sauntered away from him, her heels clicking loudly against the tiles of the lobby of the chapel. She pressed the button of her earpiece.

"Missy. Found her yet?"

 _"Custodial services said there's someone puking in a toilet in the second level restroom."_

"There's our bride…" Maya muttered.

With a roll of her eyes, she hurried up the stairs, trying to climb the steps as quickly as she could—and _not_ trip and fall—in the tight pencil skirt and unreasonably high heels she'd worn for the occasion. Under normal circumstances, Maya wasn't so stupid as to wear such dangerous shoes, but as a pint sized wedding planner, there were quite a few clients who tended not to take her too seriously. So every extra inch counted.

Maya hurried her way down the hall and pushed into the swinging door of the women's lavatory. She was met by the rancid odor of puke and disgusting sound of retching. With a sigh, Maya spoke into her communication device.

" _God_ … " She said, her lip curled in disgust, "Okay. Found her Missy."

 _"Hey Maya? People are starting to look restless in the chapel. What do I do?"_

"Distract them."

 _"How the hell am I supposed to do that?"_

"I don't know. Take off your top or something."

 _"Plan B please?"_

"Have the organist start the interlude for the bridesmaids and groomsmen to walk."

 _"Alright, but you're on sudden death as of now. Clock's ticking..."_

"Well aware…" Maya said as she carefully approached the stall to the sound of wet chunks hitting the water. "Hey Stacie? Is that you?"

There was a groan and then the pale faced bride pried herself out, a bit of puke lining her lips and her chin. Maya was utterly relieved that her dress hadn't gotten splashed with any of the vomit. She wasn't equipped to take care of that kind of disaster. Stacie walked to the sink, rinsing out her mouth with cold water.

"Maya, I can't do this…" she muttered, looking at her face in the mirror, her eyes red rimmed and watery.

Maya sighed as she dug in her bag for her emergency makeup kit and clean up supplies. "What are you worried about?"

"This is just a bad idea… Why am I marrying him? What if things don't work out?" She rested her hand on her abdomen. "Is it really a good idea to marry someone just because I'm having his baby?"

Maya took Stacie's chin in her hand, turning it to face her. She pulled a tissue out of her bag and gently wiped away the smudged lipstick.

"Stacie. Remind me why you're marrying Philip again."

"I don't want to have a child out of wedlock."

"And why don't you want a child out of wedlock?" Maya pulled out some fresh lipstick, carefully applying it on the parts of her lips missing the soft pink.

"Because my mother and father would make my life living hell if they found out."

"Right. Your parents would become tyrannical. And you don't want that. So you're marrying the man who impregnated you." Maya smiled, carefully wiping tears from her lower lids, making sure not to smudge her mascara. "But you also told me that you love Philip. That you love his smile and the way he makes you feel. The way he fills your heart with warmth. That even if you weren't pregnant, you would still marry him in a heartbeat, right?"

Stacie nodded, a small smile gracing her lips.

"So we're just pushing the timeline forward, aren't we?" She carefully dusted some blush on the bride's face. There was nothing she could do to bring colour to her face at this point. An extra layer would just have to do. "That's all we're doing. You still get to marry Philip. But just earlier than you expected."

 _"Three minutes til go time Maya. You better hurry the hell up."_

"But what if everything goes all wrong? What if we fight?" Stacie asked worriedly.

"Stacie. I can't tell you that everything will be alright. I don't know the future. I don't know how things will turn out for you and Philip once you're married." Maya patted her cheek. "But fights are normal in a relationship. What matters isn't how mad you guys get with each other or how often you're at each other's throats. At the end of the day, what matters is that you both love each other. And that's what will make your relationship work, no matter how dysfunctional it may become."

Stacie sniffled and gave Maya a hug. "Thank you. I needed that."

"Right. But hugs can take place later." Maya gently pushed her off. "So go out there and kick some ass on your wedding. You've been waiting for this day since you found out you got knocked up. So march downstairs, meet your father at the doors, and be prepared for the most perfect wedding Philip's money could buy."

Which honestly wasn't much, but whatever...

"Right!"

Stacie rushed out of the bathroom doors to head downstairs and meet her father, and Maya tossed the used tissues in the trash bin as she left to observe the ceremony as well.

 _"Success?"_

"Yupp. Cue the organ to start playing Here Comes The Bride."

 _"Right on it."_

As Maya walked down the hall to the stairwell, the organ began belting out the notes to the familiar wedding march.

Maya leaned over the stair railing, watching the ground floor where Stacie hugged her nervous father in apology for her temporary disappearance. They walked through the doors of the chapel arm in arm and a small smile crept on Maya's face.

Once again, she'd managed to make a wedding happen despite the brainless twit of a groom, his douche-y best man who Maya was positive was banging Stacie's mother, and Stacie herself, whose baby bump had to be tied down heavily with a girdle in order to even zip up the dress she insisted she wear because it was her mother's, and they were supposed to be the same size. Not to mention the bright orange bridesmaids dresses and lime green groomsmen suits.

It was a subpar, mediocre, and borderline shitty wedding, but somehow, Maya had managed to make it look like a dream come true with the bright orange roses adorning walls and pews and pillars and the plush lime green lace complimenting the oh so _gorgeous_ flowers. This was one for the books. She took something atrocious and had turned it into something fit for kings and queens. She was lucky she had impeccable aesthetic senses. She deserved an award for the work she'd put in this marriage to make it not look like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

Maya smirked, mentally patting herself on the back.

This was probably one of the worst weddings she'd ever done in her life, but she'd done hella good work.

Good work indeed...


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Soooo I have a stomach virus ahahah. And it sucks. Word of advice: If your milk has expired more than four days, just don't drink it. No matter how okay it smells LOLOLOLOL xD  
**

 **You guys are so sweet to me :) I love you all so so much! Thank you :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Maya leaned against the doorway of the rented high school gym, arms crossed in front of her chest as she watched Stacie and Philip share their first dance as a married couple. She chewed on her toothpick idly, blank expression on her face.

The ceremony had gone without mishap, except for Philip not having prepared any vows (as Maya had figured he wouldn't). Not to mention she suspected he was severely hung over as were pretty much all the groomsmen. But aside from those little problems, the marriage ceremony had gone swimmingly, and Maya had felt quite triumphant once they'd finally kissed to officially tie the knot and walked down that aisle.

That had been part one. Now all that was left was to get this part of the after party out of the way and then she could finally leave. Her work here would be done and over with.

And not a moment too soon, because even from her position, Maya could tell that Stacie's girdle was a dip away from snapping and probably tearing the side of her wedding dress. And once it snapped, turmoil would be sure to follow shortly after. There would be questions, and confusion and no doubt a huge fight.

But hell, that wasn't Maya's problem. Not in another minute twenty-two anyway.

She touched her earpiece to communicate with Missy.

"Where's the best man, Missy?"

 _"Last I saw, he was getting head from one of the bridesmaids in the janitor's closet down the hall. I think it was that tall auburn haired one? Giant rack?"_

Candace. Right. She'd seen the best man eyeing the ample cleavage the whole afternoon and figured this would happen at some point. Whatever.

"What a mess…"

Maya spit out her toothpick and shook her head in disgust, lifting up her clipboard to make sure everything had been accounted for. It was high time she left anyhow.

The cake was situated and waiting to be cut, presents had been presented by most the congregation, DJ was set, had all necessary equipment and amenities for his job, the barbecue was set up on the side tables.

Yupp. Looked like everything was in place and it was just about time to leave.

Missy appeared beside her, a little winded from having to walk around to make sure things were still arranged.

"Why can't you do the rounds next time?" Missy said in annoyance, pulling out her earpiece and setting it inside her purse.

"Because you're my assistant." Maya replied boredly as she took out her own and dropped it in her bag.

They stood in silence by the doors for a moment, watching as Stacie happily laid her head on Philip's shoulder, a bright smile on her face. He held her tightly, his expression also peaceful and happy. It was a picture perfect sight. Man and wife at last, cuddled on the empty dance floor, the spotlight resting on them, swaying softly to Etta James whispering sweet nothings in each other's ears.

It made her want to puke.

"Think they'll last?"

Maya stared at them impassively.

Stacie would have her kid, and then she would realize that her "husband" was an irresponsible, immature little shit with no prospects. He would push for a honeymoon; she would say no because they had to take care of their child. So Philip would go on a weeklong "business trip" with his secretary, who also happened to be the maid of honour. Not only that, Philip would continue to shirk his duties as a father, spending several late evenings in his office probably screwing his secretary. It was a bad rom com waiting to happen, and Maya was so glad she could wash her hands of it officially.

Maya had no doubt.

There was no chance in hell these two clowns would last.

"I give them one year. Year and a half max." Maya snorted, stretching her arms above her head, "Let's blow this taco stand. I want to get wasted."

Missy gave her an incredulous look out of the corner of her eye but sighed and followed Maya out the doors of the gym.

Maya finally felt lighthearted and almost giddy after getting this job out of the way. Now she could celebrate her job well done, get drunk off her ass, and then sleep in claiming she was sick.

Whatever happened next with Philip and Stacie sure as hell wasn't any skin off her back.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Damn 'Pure Heroine' is such a great album to write to... I just cranked out so many notes for multiple stories. I FEEL SO ACCOMPLISHED TODAY LOL!  
**

 **Thank you for the reviews! I really appreciate you guy's kindness! And you guys. Because you're just such lovely, lovely banana nut muffins! xD  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Maya knocked back her shot of scotch, scrunching her face up at the burn in her chest before letting out a satisfied sigh as she slammed the shot glass back on the bar counter.

"Hey bartender. On the rocks please. And keep them coming."

He nodded and walked away and Missy watched her in amusement, delicately taking a sip of her marguerita.

"You're really fired up today."

"Who wouldn't be after dealing with those idiots for three months?" Maya saluted the bartender in thanks when he set her drink in front of her.

"You're terrible…" Missy licked her lips of the salt on the rim of her cocktail glass. "By the way, that guy at the end of the bar has been checking you out for the past thirty minutes."

"So?" Maya said, running her hand through her hair as she glanced at him with disinterest.

He probably just wanted to get laid. And no doubt he thought Maya was easy. It came with the territory of being a blonde unfortunately.

He caught her gaze and got off of his bar stool, walking towards her with an inviting smirk. Maya shot him a frigid glare, daring him to take another step closer. If he even tried to talk to her, she'd have him writhing on the ground holding his nuts in pain before he even got a word out. Taking the hint, he pretended as if he hadn't been approaching her and walked right by the two of them, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

Good riddance.

"Nice job fixing the bathroom crisis, though." Missy brought up, impressed, "You did that shit like a pro."

"I'll accept your kudos in the form of an Oscar for that award winning performance."

"But seriously. You were calm, cool, and collected. And then what you said! How'd you pull that stuff about what matters in love out of your ass?"

"Oh that?" Maya took a contemplative sip, swishing the drink around in her mouth a bit. "My best friend used to tell me stuff like that all the time in college. I just said whatever she would have probably said."

"Your friend must be a genius when it comes to love."

Maya rose a brow. "If you want to look at it that way."

"Well how do you look at it?"

"She's being naïve." Maya stared at the row of neatly aligned glasses against the wall of the bartender's station. "Setting herself up for disaster. Opening her heart to the possibility of truckloads of pain and sadness. It's a shame how trusting she is to finding love. Love doesn't exist."

Missy set her drink down on the table, staring at Maya in slight shock.

"You're kind of fucked up, you know. How is it that you can plan these beautiful weddings and give frightened brides these lovely words to calm them down when you have no faith in what you're doing?"

"Who knows…" Maya finished off her drink with a shrug.

Missy snorted. "Wow, who screwed you over so badly to turn you into this cynical person?"

"Nobody." Maya smirked. "I've never been stupid enough to give anyone the chance to."

"So why are you so cynical about love?"

"Have you seen my mom's track record of failed relationships? I so don't want to end up like her. And I've seen so many of these weddings I planned crumble to pieces in a matter of years. Months even. All these everlasting promises of love aren't real because in the end, one or the other or both always gives up and leaves."

"But some marriages last." Missy argued. "Because there's love between the people."

"Great words." Maya drawled, rolling her eyes as she took a sip of the new drink the bartender had brought out. "Now maybe if the percentage of failed marriages we planned in the past were lower, I might believe them."

"Wow. So I guess you never want to get married, huh?"

Maya's eyes narrowed, her lip curled slightly in disgust.

"Marriage is for suckers. And so is love."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay as usual: I've fallen behind in responding to reviews and PMs, so if I haven't responded yet, I'm a little frazzled, but I will try to get on that later today!  
**

 **I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story thus far! Thank you for taking the time to review! You all are really sweet! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Maya stumbled through her dark apartment, her vision completely spinning and barely able to hold herself up. She tripped on her carpet and ran into the wall, giggling stupidly to herself before continuing on her unsteady way to her bedroom. As she walked, she shed her foot of one high heel, and then another one, and then her skirt somewhere along the way.

She plopped down on her bed with a groan, already feeling the sleep creeping into her system. She knew she had to take off her top, and hop in the shower, but she was barely able to function, much less stand up in a slippery bathtub and wash the grime from her skin.

Her phone rang and she blearily dug through her purse to pull it out. She figured it was Missy checking in on her to see if she got home.

"Hello?" she slurred, slurping up the drool that almost snuck out the corner of her mouth.

 _"Maya."_

"Farkle?" she said, a frown on her face as she rubbed her sleepy eyes, "It's like two in the morning. Why are you calling?"

 _"Because for some reason, your mom is under the impression that she needs to call me in order to relay information to you."_

It made sense. Maya typically knew why her mom called her, so she tended to ignore her calls and delete the voicemails that were left.

"What did she want?"

 _"She told me she met someone interesting at Topanga's. Some lawyer or something. She gave him your number."_

Maya rolled her eyes with a growl of annoyance. She was twenty-six. Why the hell did her mother continue to believe she had to set her up with these obscure men? Maya had made it clear multiple times that she had no interest in dating anyone. Because what was the point? She'd never grow to love them. It was pointless and a waste of her time to humour them if it wasn't going to go anywhere. She could think of much better things she could do with her free time than date irrelevant people who would enter her life in one day and leave in the next.

"Tell her I'm not interested."

 _"Okay, I did. But don't be surprised if some random guy still calls or texts you."_

"Well then, he'll be scarred for life." She said sweetly. "Will that be all, Farks, because there is a plush, comfy pillow at the head of my bed and he is calling my name."

 _"One more thing: Riley called me. She's flying up tomorrow—well, today—to visit you. I know you've probably been drinking, but please be at your office."_

"What for?"

 _"No reason. She just wanted to see you."_

He sounded like he was definitely hiding something.

"Why would she fly all the way from Texas just to see me? Doesn't seem like a good enough reason." Maya sat up, clumsily unbuttoning her satin blouse so she could take it off. "And why didn't she just call me herself?"

He sighed through the line, sounding tired and defeated and honestly a little exasperated. Maya grinned, a little amused by Farkle's irritation. He was usually pretty unaffected by her, but years of knowing her had slowly chipped away at his patience.

 _"Okay, please act surprised when she tells you this because she really wanted me to keep it a secret. But she's engaged."_

"To who?"

Maya frowned. Had Riley been seeing someone? Maya couldn't remember.

 _"Lucas. Who else would she be engaged to?"_

Maya's brows furrowed in concentration, her sluggish mind finally making the connection as she slowly remembered Riley talking about a Lucas a few times a couple months ago. Her Mr. Perfect boyfriend. Well _fiancé_ now. (Which Maya didn't believe for a second. There was no way a guy was that perfect. It just didn't make any sense. He had to be putting on airs). Riley tended not to talk to Maya too much about the guys she dated since Maya had a tendency to try to dissuade her of her relationships at times. She had forgotten Riley was still with the guy.

"Lucas Friar? The guy she started dating in February?" Maya's nose wrinkled in distaste. "It's only May. Is she serious right now? They've barely been dating."

 _"I guess she is. I was as shocked as you were when I found out."_

What the hell was she thinking? Getting engaged so soon when she'd barely had time to honestly get to know this guy was a stupid idea.

 _"Hey, when are you going to return the TV I let you borrow?"_

Maya held her cellphone away from her face, blowing occasionally into the receiver hole of the bottom.

"Oh sorry. The… connection… is… bad. I can't hear you very well. Must be bad service. I'll call you back, okay?"

 _"Whatever Maya. I'm breaking into your apartment tomorrow to get it back."_

Maya snorted, "Thanks for letting me know. I'll make sure it's properly hidden away."

He sighed, the deep timbre sounding exhausted.

 _"Goodnight Maya. And make sure you act surprised tomorrow."_

"Alright. Night."

She tossed her phone haphazardly onto her bedside dresser and her purse on her clothes-cluttered floor before tugging on her smock and crawling under her covers. She snuggled her head into her pillow, fully intending to let the fatigue take over her body to induce her sleep. But her mind went back to the information she'd just been given.

Riley was engaged. So apparently she thought she had found real love with some guy she barely knew. What had even compelled her to make such a rash decision in the first place?

Maya's eyes narrowed.

This sounded like disaster waiting to happen. And Maya didn't want to watch her best friend's heart get broken when the inevitable end to their relationship occurred.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Ahahaha inconsistent chapter lengths... I'm failing miserably at this snippets thing! xDDD  
**

 **Thank you for reading this story! I am really happy you are enjoying it! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Maya laid her head on her desk, closing her eyes with a groan and hitting the side of her cheap desktop computer for the tenth time when the screen glitched and the computer froze. Damn this stupid thing. She'd been asking her boss for a newer model for the past two years but the woman just did not care in the least about upgrading the facility.

"Missy. I'm not paying attention to a word you're saying. Shut up. My head hurts."

Across from her, Missy stopped talking abruptly and set her clipboard down on Maya's desk with a slap. Through Maya's shades, she could see that Missy's lips were pursed in annoyance and that the brunette had a brow raised.

"Suck it up." Missy snapped, "That's what you get for coming to work with a hangover."

"Don't you have any sympathy for me?"

"Why would I have any sympathy when you brought this on yourself? I've warned you multiple times about drinking during the week when you have to go to work."

"I wasn't even going to show up today…" Maya whined. "My friend is coming so I had to."

"Ummm… I guess this is my cue to come in then?"

Maya raised her head from her desk at the same time that Missy turned around. Riley was standing in the doorway, waving sheepishly at Maya with a wide grin on her face. Maya didn't pay attention to the fact that Riley had cut her hair since the last time she'd seen her during Christmas. Nor did she pay attention to the fact that Riley looked like the epitome of sunshine with her bright yellow sundress. Nope.

Her gaze was drawn to the hand waving at her. Riley's left hand. With the engagement ring on the ring finger.

So this fuckery really was true.

"Riley." Maya gestured to her hand with her chin. "What's with the ring?"

Riley gasped as if Maya wasn't supposed to see it yet and quickly hid her hand behind her back.

"Wait! That's not how it's supposed to go!"

Maya rolled her eyes fondly at Riley's wide eyed disappointment that her surprise didn't go as planned. Riley, always adorkable. Always a goof.

"Okay then." Maya rose a brow, gesturing to the seat across her desk and next to Missy. "Take a seat. You remember my assistant, Missy?"

Riley smiled, "How's your boyfriend's grandmother?"

"She's doing much better, thank you for asking." Missy smiled back, scootching her chair over so that Riley could have more room to sit. "That doctor you recommended worked wonders."

Maya stared at Missy. "Wait, you have a boyfriend? You never told me."

"Why would I, Miss Love Doesn't Exist?"

"Right…" Maya smirked, turning to Riley, "Anyway, Riles. What brings you over from Texas to my office on this terrible day where I can barely function because I'm hungover as hell?"

Riley giggled, her smile wide and giddy.

"Well… I'm _engaged_!" she squealed excitedly, "I'm getting married, Maya!"

She held out her left hand so Maya could see the ring, and Missy gasped in surprise. Maya took off her sunglasses and scrutinized it with furrowed brows. Damn, this Lucas fellow was clearly loaded as hell. It was a gorgeous (and pretty big) sapphire stone framed by a beautiful cut of diamonds on a gold band. It was a pretty damn impressive ring. Maya could see why Missy was looking so sparkly eyed over it.

"Yay, congratulations…" Maya said, too tired to try to exert an effort to be surprised.

Riley frowned, a cute pout to her lips. "You knew…"

"Farkle told me." Maya shrugged, though she did take Riley's outstretched hand and turned it to and fro, observing how the light hit the stones and made them shine even brighter, "But it is a nice ring. Definitely expensive."

"It's beautiful!" Missy gushed, "It's been a while since we've seen an engagement ring of that caliber."

"Thanks!" Riley swooned, "I definitely wasn't expecting a proposal but when he did, I was so excited I couldn't even speak!"

"Well good for you." Maya said, letting go of her hand and leaning back in her chair, "You deserve to be happy."

Missy frowned. "What, no comments about marriage being a joke? Something's fishy."

"Are you kidding?" Maya rose a brow. "I have a lot of comments to say about that, mainly, the fact that she got engaged after only three months of dating this guy, but Riley's happy. So those comments can wait until later."

Riley grinned, "Classic Maya. But anyway, I came here because I want you to be my maid of honour, Maya."

"You sure about that? I'll make your life hell~" Maya singsonged playfully.

"Absolutely, positively sure! I can't think of anyone else I would want by my side when I marry the love of my life."

"Then, I'd love to be your maid of honour."

"Yay..." Riley said softly with a giggle, throwing Maya back to a time when the exclamations used to be loud and uncontrolled, "But it's not just that. I know it's a lot to ask because you'll have two different tasks, but I need you to be my wedding planner too."

Maya frowned. "What? Why?"

"You're the best one I know for the job and the thing is, Lucas' parents are a little bit aggressive and kind of controlling, but since we're having the wedding on his grandfather's ranch, and they would really like a summer wedding, I kind of need this done in three months." Riley said sheepishly, "And I know you have a lot of experience with fast weddings. And I kind of need someone on my side because honestly, I'm a little scared of his mother."

Maya gave her a blank look. Maya had thought the situation was odd before because Riley was getting engaged so soon, but now she found it utterly ridiculous. So not only had Riley and her beau rushed to get engaged but now they were rushing to get married? They were planning to tie the knot after only a total six months of knowing each other?

"So let me get this straight." Maya said slowly, giving Riley a skeptical look, "You want a wedding in the amount of time that you've known Lucas. Which is what. Three months, right?"

"Maya." Riley said in exasperation. "I know how you feel about marriage and love, but Lucas is the one."

"And you know that from what? Three months of dating? Sure, okay."

"Love is real Maya." Riley huffed, "And it hit us both. We both feel like we've met the one. And we both know this marriage will last. So why wait since we're perfect for each other?"

Maya stared at Riley, a little surprised at the determination in her gaze. It wasn't that Riley was a ditz or flaky or anything of the sort, but the expression in her eyes was usually a dazed, dreamy look that usually made people assume she was. But Maya could only see a fierce resolve and sincerity in her gaze. She truly believed this would work out.

But Maya was skeptical about this crazy plan to get married by the end of summer. She'd seen quick weddings crumble to pieces before. And the ones where the bride and groom rushed to get married were usually the ones that got called off.

"Riley, are you sure about this? Maybe you should take some time and think things through."

"I've never been so sure in my life. Lucas is the love of my life. And I want to marry him." Riley said, an earnest desire in her gaze, "Please Maya? I need you."

Maya chewed her thumbnail, glancing at Missy who shrugged, though she was also sporting the same concerned look on her face. Maya had no doubt Missy also knew how risky rushed weddings were. On average, Maya had about six to twelve months to work on the wedding. Riley was so sure she wanted to marry this guy, but looking at statistics, this fast wedding wouldn't end well. Maya had a feeling.

But Riley really wanted to marry him. And she apparently loved him. Maya didn't feel comfortable trying to dissuade her chipper, happy-go-lucky best friend.

"Well I have to be in Texas with you anyway if I'm the maid of honour." Maya sighed in defeat. "Okay. I'll take it up with my boss, see if she's okay with me taking on this project."

"Oh thank you Maya! Thank you so much!" Riley squealed, "You both are welcome to stay in my apartment during the planning period."

Maya frowned, "You don't live with Lucas?"

"We're waiting until we get married to move in together."

Maya had to physically bite her tongue to keep from making a disparaging comment. This was ridiculous. They didn't even live together. How did they know whether they were compatible for a life together in the same household? This was starting to look like one really bad joke to Maya.

Missy shook her head. "No, just Maya can stay with you, Riley. I'll stay in a hotel."

"I have plenty of room. It's no problem at all."

"I appreciate it." Missy snickered, "But my decision is based more off of the fact that Maya is an atrocious roommate and flatmate, and it takes a special kind of person to live with her. Hell, to _put up_ with her."

Riley giggled, nodding her head in agreement. "Then let me at least contact Lucas' parents about providing the accommodations for your stay. I'm sure they can get you an apartment to rent for the summer."

"Thank you. That would be nice."

Maya opened her schedule, skimming through the summer to see if she had any other engagements, but it was empty.

"When did you want us to begin the process, Riley?" Maya asked.

"As soon as possible. His mother wants to meet with you next Monday."

So in three days she had to pack her bags and head to Austin. Great.

Maya rubbed her temples in annoyance as she marked off the summer on her schedule for being occupied. "You are so lucky you're cute, Riley."

Riley laughed as she stood up. "Thank you so much again, Maya. I'm sorry about having to leave so soon, but I have to go tell my parents about the engagement, and then I have to head back to Austin tomorrow morning, but I'll definitely give you a call tonight."

"I'll confirm things with my boss and let you know tonight then."

"Okay!"

Riley waved once more at them before scurrying out of Maya's office and going on her way.

"Congrats, maid of honour." Missy said, "What's your prediction on this marriage?"

Maya frowned.

It was doomed to fail.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Just to clarify: This is a Lucaya story with Rucas in it :3 But also to add to that: this story will feature _multiple_ ships in it. A lot.  
**

 **I appreciate you guys' hilarious reviews! Thank you for making me laugh through a crappy headache and this damn stomach virus! I love you! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"You're doing it."

Maya sighed and ran her hand through her hair, nonchalantly tossing back the stress ball at her boss, Harper Burgess.

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that…" Maya muttered, narrowing her eyes at her.

Harper smirked, setting her cigarette in the ash tray on her desk. "Why wouldn't I agree to this request from your friend? This is the exact kind of exposure our agency needs. You're going with her, right Missy?"

Missy nodded, still pinching her nose tightly shut to avoid breathing the nauseating secondhand smoke. Maya snorted in amusement. Missy couldn't stand their boss, finding her too abrasive, too wild, and too much on the rough and tumble side, but Maya _loved_ their chill boss. Mostly because she let Maya do whatever the hell she wanted, but it was pretty cool that Harper also had a very lax view on marriage.

(That it was only good for having a guaranteed sex partner for the rest of a person's life).

"Yeah, I'm going with her." Missy said with a nasally voice, "But I also don't think this is a good idea. Aside from the fact that Maya will also be maid of honour—which has its own whole separate set of tasks—there's a really high chance that this marriage will not be successful, and she's too close to the situation. This could break Maya."

"Maya? Get broken by a failed marriage? Don't make me laugh." Harper chuckled, kicking her booted feet up on her desk, "You know why Maya is my best planner? Because she doesn't get affected by any of this marriage mumbo jumbo. She's a machine. An efficient, untouchable machine who can get the job done and make these brides' and grooms' dreams come true. Do you really think that if her friend's marriage fails, she'll lose that efficiency? If anything, she'll be telling her friend 'I told you so'."

Maya beamed smugly at the compliments. Harper didn't make it a habit of praising her worker bees, so a single bit of approval from her was a rare treat.

"Besides," she continued, "I've been thinking about opening up another branch of Burgess Wedding Planning Inc. in another city. Austin has been on my radar for a while. But I've needed someone to scope out the city; see if it's a good location. Now's the perfect chance. Who knows, if you two do a good job, I might make _you_ director of the agency Maya. And Missy, you'll be lead planner."

Maya's brows rose high on her forehead as Missy's jaw dropped.

"What? You serious? You're not shitting us, are you?"

"No shitting whatsoever." Harper smiled, a little catlike grin that made the corner of her eyes crinkle,."Pays better, you don't have to plan as much, you get to oversee general operations. Head honchos. You make the rules. How does that sound?"

"Fucking amazing."

"Of course, one downside is you'd have to pack up both your lives and move to Austin if we should happen to open it up."

"Hey, that is no problem for me." Maya said.

She'd been itching for a change in scenery recently. New York City was great, but years of living in the city (where her meddling mother tried to set her up endlessly with different guys) had made her desperate for something new. Plus, Riley lived in Austin. It would be nice to be able to hang out with her best friend any time she wanted to again after years of living in separate cities. When Riley had officially moved to Austin to become an astronomy professor at the University of Texas in Austin, Maya couldn't lie that a piece of her left along with Riley.

"Missy?" Harper asked, popping some cashews in her mouth, "What about you?"

Missy looked conflicted. "I mean, I guess it wouldn't be such a bad thing, but it depends on what my experience there is like. Plus my boyfriend is here, so... I'd need some time to think about moving there."

"Understood." Harper picked up her cigarette, pointing at the two of them. "We can talk about that later. In any case, you're taking the job?"

"Yeah, we'll do it." Maya replied.

"Good." Harper let out a slow ring of smoke. "Then I will see you in August. Good luck you two. Bring back a souvenir."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hi Guest (and anyone else who is worried)! I am a staunch Lucaya shipper (such huge trash it's not even funny) so wipe your tears, ma cher. Me shipping Lucaya will never change :3 But I am not against using Rucas in plots if it works in the context of a story.** **So LOLOLOL let me clarify just one more time just to assuage any and all fears xD**

 **This is a _Lucaya _ story with Rucas in it based off of 'The Wedding Planner', a movie from the early 00s.  
**

 **Thank you for the sweet reviews! I really appreciate them! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

When Maya and Missy first got to Austin, Maya had half expected to see cows roaming fields or people wearing cowboy hats and cowboy boots all over the place. Maybe people driving tractors. Sure, it was a stupid belief and a ridiculous stereotype but she'd never been anywhere outside of the Village, so it was just a dumb fantasy that had been in her head since she was young. But so far, Austin, Texas wasn't any different from any other city it seemed.

She and Missy had missed their earlier flight (because Maya had gotten hammered Saturday night and forgotten to wake up on time) so they'd had to catch a much later flight. When they'd landed, Missy's luggage got mistaken for someone else's so while they waited for that person to come back with her hot pink suitcase, they had gotten dinner at one of the restaurants in the airport. The whole experience was daunting and slightly tiring to the point that they didn't even want to do any sightseeing anymore as they had already planned. Not to mention, it was nighttime, and Missy just wanted her beauty sleep.

When Missy got her luggage back, she'd hailed a cab to get to her hotel, firmly reminding Maya to be responsible for once and to make sure she woke up on time for their budgeting meeting with Lillian and James Friar at eight. She gave her the usual speech: they were important clients, Maya had to make a good first impression, blah blah blah. Maya had assured her she would be on time and then gathered her own belongings to catch a cab to Riley's apartment.

Throughout the whole ride, Maya had been pretty impressed by the city. The active night life, people walking on the streets enjoying themselves, the abundance of shops and stores and clubs and eateries. It reminded Maya of her teenage years, dragging Riley to 21 and over clubs and using her fake IDs to buy drinks. Those had been some pretty damn good times.

Which brought her standing outside Riley's apartment, checking the address from the text Riley had sent her one more time to make sure she was in the right place. She was drenched in sweat by that point and mentally patted herself on the back for being smart enough to pack a thousand sun dresses and summer clothing for the next few months. Otherwise, she would probably melt.

Before Maya even lifted her hand to knock, the door swung open, and Riley dragged her in with a high-pitched, ear-splitting squeal. After she shut the door, she glomped Maya with all her heart, squeezing her to her chest and cutting off her circulation. Maya grunted at the impact, almost winded by the sheer force of the action.

"Whoa… Down girl." Maya chuckled, though she wrapped her arms around Riley's back as well.

"I finally get you for the whole summer! We're going to do everything together!" she giggled, "Shop for my dress! Look for bridal stuff! Bachelorette party! I'm so excited!"

Engulfed in her arms like this, Maya couldn't help but feel just like their college days, spending time chilling and talking about the stupidest stuff until the morning came. And then sneaking up to the roof of their dorm and just watching the sun rise in the distance.

Maya snorted and pushed Riley slightly away, looking up at her in amusement.

"Alright then, so what's on the agenda for tonight? Because I know you're not going to let me sleep. I'm sure you want to gush about your soon-to-be husband, right?"

Riley smiled excitedly, taking Maya's suitcase and putting it against a coat rack next to her front door. Maya looked around her apartment. She'd been there before, and for the most part it was the same, but it seemed like some of her stuff was missing. Most of the memorabilia hanging on the walls (like that tacky coocoo clock her Uncle Eric had given her, the UT flag she kept above her TV, her teaching certification) no longer seemed to be there.

"Where's all your stuff?"

"I couldn't wait for three months, so I've already been packing some of my stuff up and slowly moving it to Lucas' place. That way, once we're married, there won't be a lot of stuff to pack up and move."

Maya's brows furrowed. It was really weird to think about Riley moving on and getting married. She would no longer just be the unattached best friend of Maya's. Riley was very family oriented as well, so no doubt she would be having kids at some point in the future. It made Maya feel kind of melancholic in a way. Once Riley was wed, Maya was sure it'd be somewhat awkward to intrude in her life.

And for that reason, although she knew it was a little selfish, Maya wished Riley wasn't getting married. Maybe it was petty and maybe it was just an attention thing, but she didn't want to share Riley with this Lucas guy.

"You're really serious about this marriage thing." Maya said, staring at a picture still on Riley's wall of the two girls hamming it up on their last day of high school.

"Never been more serious in my life, Maya." Riley's eyes were dancing in pure happiness. "Lucas is the best thing that's happened to me."

Maya sighed, somewhat dejectedly, "I'll take this seriously then. Only because it's you."

"Thank you, Maya." Riley took her hand with a soft smile. "But let's not talk about that right now. I know marriage is your least favourite topic of conversation."

Maya was relieved that they didn't have to talk about this anymore.

"Well what did you have in mind?"

"Remember when something good would happen to either of us and we would make oven s'mores in our dorm kitchen and drink so much peach Moscato until the early morning and then skip our classes and lounge around in our pajamas?"

Maya chuckled, shaking her head in mirth. "It's like you read my mind, babe."

They laughed and headed to the kitchen to celebrate the best way they knew how.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Alright last update then I'm going to bed ahahaha!** **xD I couldn't wait to write this chapter. It was calling out to me like mayonnaise and fries *happy sigh*  
**

 **Took eight chapters but here we go: Get ready, loves ;3**

 **Awww thanks for the lovely reviews you guys! You're all so sweet and I really appreciate the kind words! It really means a lot :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

 _"Maya! Where the hell are you?! I told you to wake up on time dammit! You're late!"_

Maya winced, holding her phone away from her ear at the sheer volume of Missy's furious screeching.

"Chill. I have five minutes." She growled, already feeling a headache coming on. This day hadn't begun well, and Maya knew she would be in a pretty bad mood for the rest of it. "I'm walking to the office right now."

 _"Why is it so damn impossible for you to get to places on time?! Do you know how much trouble you frickin' cause me every time you do shit like this! I mean goodness gracious! How hard is it to wake up on time for something?! I asked you to do one thing. One. Damn. Thing. And you can't even do that and now I'm the one who looks bad in front of them because you can't get your fucking act together! I'm in a fucking bathroom Maya. A_ bathroom _, yelling at you on the phone because for some reason, you are incapable of coming to places on time—"_

Maya ended the call and dropped her phone in her purse with a roll of her eyes, deciding it would be better to just face her wrath later. She didn't have time for the lecture of her life right now. She groaned and clutched her file and papers tighter in her hand, hurrying as fast as she could in her pumps to the office she was supposed to meet the Friar parents in.

She'd tried to wake up on time. She honestly had, and Riley had even tried to wake Maya up before she left for her doctorate course, but it being Monday, and them having stayed up well past sunrise, Maya hadn't been able to wake herself up properly. When Riley reminded her she had a meeting to go to, Maya had exploded out of bed to get ready. Thankfully, Riley was able to give her a ride to about a block or two away from where Lillian Friar's law firm, Friar, Babineaux & Gardner, was located so if Maya just hustled and busted her ass, she'd be able to get there not too late.

Maya checked her watch, cursing under her breath when she realized it was already eight. She flipped through the documents in the manila folder in her hand, skimming them and making sure she had everything necessary for the contract. If she was going to be late, she better damn well make sure she was prepared.

And then she was nearly bulldozed over when someone rushed right by her, knocking into her arm and causing her to stumble forward. The papers flew out of her hands and scattered all over the sidewalk where some other patrons watched in slight concern. Maya stared at all her documents splayed on the sidewalk, shock on her face. And then hot rage bubbled up in her chest before she could even think to contain it and she snapped her gaze up to the tall man in front of her who had turned around and was staring at the papers on the ground.

"Crud… I am so sorry." he said apologetically, "I was in a rush because I have an appointment, and I woke up late—"

"Hey, _asshole_." Maya cut him off with a sharp glare. "Can you do me a favour and learn how to walk?"

He frowned and straightened, meeting her gaze with startled and somewhat offended sea-foam green eyes.

"Is that really necessary, ma'am?"

" _Yes_ , you bonehead!" She gestured to the papers scattered everywhere. "I have to get all of these documents in order again, and this is a _contract_ you frickin' Huckleberry. I can't very well show up to my appointment with a dirty contract, now can I? I'm a professional!"

He looked pretty taken aback, brows furrowed in slight annoyance.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to knock all your stuff down." He scratched the back of his neck. "The clinic I work at is nearby here. We have printers if you want to print another one."

"I don't have time for that." she snapped, "Just help me pick these up, dammit."

"Wow, really?" He scoffed incredulously, eyes narrowed, "You don't accept my apology, you insult me, I give you a suggestion to fix your problem which you then turn down, and on top of all that, you order me around. Could you be any more rude?"

"Could you?" she sassed, not even caring that people on the street were watching the ridiculous argument with barely concealed amusement, "Got your head so far up your ass that you can't even pay attention to who's in front of you?"

"It's not my fault that I didn't see you!"

Had he just…?

"Are you making a jab at my height?!" Maya snarled, "Because I swear I'll kick your ass so hard you'll have to shit through your mouth!"

"Okay, what the hell is wrong with you?! I said nothing about your height! Why the fuck are you getting so mad?"

"You clearly implied it!"

"I did not!"

"Yes you did!"

He looked so absolutely fed up and bewildered by the entire situation that for a small second, Maya almost started laughing. _Almost_. Until she suddenly remembered how late she was.

"Fuck, I don't have time for this!" She threw her hands up in frustration, stooping to pick up some of the fallen documents. "Can you just help me get these up since it was _your_ fault?"

He rolled his eyes and bent over as well, gathering the papers quickly.

"You know, you need a serious attitude adjustment."

He snapped back up after picking up the last one, and Maya wasn't exactly sure _what_ happened, but one second, she was bent at the waist, trying to get rid of dirt on one of the pages of the contract, and the next, _pain._ Unbelievable pain shooting straight up her nose and between her eyes to the point where she saw _light_ s dancing in her eyes. She staggered back, stumbled on her heels in a daze and landed on her ass on the pavement as her vision swam.

"Holy shit." He crouched next to her, gingerly holding her upper back and keeping her upright when she almost pitched backwards. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

Her nose was throbbing, pulsing erratically, and Maya blinked slowly, trying to clear the green splotches in her gaze and reorient herself.

"What the hell…?" she muttered.

"You just got hit in the face. Are you alright?"

She glanced at him beside her, an eyebrow raised.

"What you mean is: your hard as fuck head collided with my nose."

He chuckled slightly, letting out a sigh of relief that she didn't seem to have any severe injuries.

"I have been told I'm hardheaded before." He joked, smiling warmly, "You need ice for your nose. Let me at least take you to the clinic. Can you stand?"

She wasn't able to answer, suddenly feeling nauseous, like a lot of blood was rushing to her head.

His brows lifted in alarm. "You're bleeding."

Maya knew. She smelled and tasted blood right as he said those words.

She brought shaking fingers up to her nose, touching the warm trickling dripping onto her upper lip. She pulled her fingers away zoning in on the red painting her fingertips. Blood. Maya knew the colour was draining from her face as everything spun, and she grew woozy. A cold sweat ran down her back and through her body. The noise in the street blurred and the sounds around her grew fuzzy and faded.

With a groan, darkness clouded her vision as the world tilted.

The last thing she saw was wide, concerned green eyes staring down at her.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Ahahahaha sorry about the mayo and fries comment xD (I just really love mayo and fries!)  
**

 **Glad to know you guys are enjoying the story! Thank you for the kind words! And I appreciate you all so much, loves! I hope this chapter is to your liking! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Have you always fainted at the sight of blood or is it because I knocked into your head?"

"Haemophobia." Maya muttered, looking at his hair as he shined a light in her eye so she wasn't looking directly into his startling green eyes.

Once when they were kids, Riley had accidentally cut herself with a knife trying to make breakfast. All Maya remembered was that there had been blood everywhere and that Maya had vomited on the kitchen floor shortly afterward. Topanga told her it had only been a little bit of blood on the counter, but Maya remembered very differently. Ever since then, the sight of blood made her faint.

"Your pupils are reacting properly to the light." He smiled, clicking off the pen light and straightening. "You probably don't have a concussion."

She'd woken up momentarily after her little fainting spell and found herself being carried by the guy to a veterinarian clinic. He'd taken her to an examination room to make sure she was fine. Honestly, Maya felt uncomfortable about it all, but she was too tired to argue the point. Her nose was still throbbing from the stupid hit she'd received from him.

He set aside the little flashlight and procured a cold pack from the mini fridge looking thing.

"Okay. Keep your head tilted forward in case you start bleeding again. And try not to put too much pressure on your nose."

He set the cold pack against her nose, and Maya winced, grimacing with a gasp from the shock of the cold when a sharp pang of pain flew up her nose.

"Ow! _Fuck_!" She slapped his hand away with a glare, holding the cold pack to her nose herself. "That hurts. Are you sure you even know what you're doing?"

"Sorry. Didn't think I was being that rough." His face looked mildly amused. "And even though I may be a vet, I do have some medical training, you know. Though you're not really any different from my usual clients…"

The last part had been said for the most part under his breath, but Maya caught the words. She didn't really get it at first, but he was smirking, so she knew he had probably just thrown a jab. And then it hit her what he said.

"Are you calling me a dog, you jackass?" Maya growled.

"I never said you were." He said, though he snorted and looked away from her to hide his grin.

"You are!" Maya scoffed indignantly. "You're calling me a dog!"

"I mean, you kind of are like one. Like a little Chihuahua. Because you're short. And snippy."

Maya's eyes narrowed. "You were definitely making fun of my height earlier, you liar."

"Okay, so maybe I was a little… I'm sorry." He apologized as he washed his hands, though he still sounded like he was holding back a laugh. "I didn't think you would react that badly to it."

"Whatever, you stupid Huckleberry."

"Alright, little shortstack of pancakes." He countered with a raised brow as he wiped his hands with paper towels.

Maya, despite herself, felt a small blush rise on her face at the embarrassing and somewhat offensive nickname. What was with this guy? He was really annoying her. She ignored the voice in her head that sounded oddly like Missy telling her that she just didn't like that he was countering everything she said without flinching.

Maya rolled her eyes and hopped off of the small examination table, pressing her nose gently with the cold pack. It was throbbing, but for the most part, the pain was manageable.

"How bad does it feel now? Better?"

She gave him a dry look, grabbing her purse and the file with disorganized and slightly dirty documents.

"Well, seeing as how I got my nose smashed only minutes ago, I'd say it still hurts."

"I can take you to an actual hospital if you want to make sure it's okay? I hit you pretty hard."

"No. I'm probably fine." Maya said, tugging out her cellphone and seeing the notification for the hundreds of text messages Missy sent her. An angry face for every second she was late. She was almost twenty minutes late. She mentally groaned, knowing she would never hear the end of this now. "I have somewhere to be anyway."

"Alright." He looked worried, but didn't say anything to deter her getaway. "Be safe. And make sure to go straight to the hospital if you start to feel nauseous or dizzy, okay?"

She stared at him, a little bewildered by his concern for her wellbeing.

"…Thank you for your help."

Then she pulled her strap on her shoulder and rushed out of the room as fast as possible. She headed to the front and after receiving directions on how to get to the law firm from the secretary at the front desk, Maya left the clinic in a flourish. Thankfully, she wasn't too far. Just about a block away.

She hurried down the sidewalk. She had to get to the office as soon as possible. No doubt Missy would have her head for this mess. Hopefully, her excuse would suffice.

It wasn't until she finally got to the front of the building that she realized she never actually got the guy's name.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I just wanted to let you guys know that I have big plans for several characters and if you were wondering, yes, Farkle will extensively be in this story past his cameo in the third chapter. You'll see ;)  
**

 **So this chapter got long... lol, it's like once I started, I couldn't resist. whoops...**

 **Thank you for reading my story all of you guys! It honestly makes me happy to know that you guys are enjoying the story! Thank you for the kind words and support! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"So sorry I'm late. I had a little mishap on the way here." Maya said politely, shaking the tall, blonde woman's hand.

"It's quite alright." Lillian Friar replied, smiling congenially, "Is your nose alright? That looks like it hurts."

"Yes, thank you." Maya took a seat, ignoring Missy's concerned and inquisitive stare beside her. Maya was just glad that Missy's face no longer held that frigid glare she'd receive upon walking into Lillian's swanky office. "But never mind my nose. I've already taken up much of your time because I was late. Shall we get started?"

"Of course. It'll just be me though." Lillian said, "My husband had to leave. He has a surgery to perform he needed to prep for and he was uncertain if it was wise to wait when there was no guarantee you would be arriving."

"My apologies. That's perfectly understandable."

"And my son was on his way, but he had to help someone, and he decided it would be best for him not to disrupt the meeting since he was already so late."

"I see."

Maya settled into the seat, pressing the ice pack a little more steadily on the throbbing part of her nose. It was more numbed now, so she didn't feel as much pain as she expected. She flipped open the file with the contract and tried to keep a straight face at Missy's appalled look beside her at the state of the documents. Maya was a little annoyed at what they looked like as well, but she didn't have time to worry about idiot Texan guys who couldn't be bothered to watch where they were going. She had work to do.

"So, I take it you probably don't have much time, so I'm just going to go right into it." Maya said steadily, switching off her irritated thoughts and switching into work mode. She slid the file with the contract in front of Lillian, grateful when she had no reaction to the very disheveled looking papers. "As you may know, weddings are expensive. In particular, this one will be occurring on your own property so that may help diminish some of the costs, but there are a lot of components to weddings. Which unfortunately, do cost a lot of money. Obviously, seeing as how you and your husband will be paying for the wedding and all arrangements for the honeymoon, some deposits will need to be made. That's why we're signing a contract today. Liabilities, amenities, my responsibilities, opportunities for refunds, etc should the wedding not fall through. Also, to determine the budget for the wedding. Where you want to put a cap on the spending. I can create a plan accordingly from that."

"There is no cap on spending." Lillian said, skimming over the first page.

Maya paused, a small frown on her face. Missy had a similar expression on her face as well.

"Mrs. Friar, we've done a lot of weddings in the past with no budget that turned out to be a nightmare for the person paying for the wedding. I don't think you understand the amount of expenses involved."

"I'm aware." She said with a smile, "We can afford it. There's no budget."

Right. The Friars were rich as fuck.

Maya rose a brow. If they wanted to spend all their savings on this giant wedding, that was fine by her. More money for their agency then.

"Alright. If you're sure."

"I am sure. I want the best and perfect wedding for my baby boy."

"And his bride." Maya reminded her, setting a note on her phone to ask Riley about setting up a brunch for the bridesmaids.

"Right. Riley too…"

Maya looked up with a frown. Under normal circumstances, her statement wouldn't have been a big deal, but there was something about the way she said it that put Maya off. Maya set her cold pack on the laminated oak desk, her eyes narrowing the slightest bit.

"You do know Riley is a part of this wedding too, right? Your son is marrying her."

"Yes, well, that's fine and all."

"Do you not like Riley or something?" Maya asked slowly.

"Hey Maya?" Missy cut in through clenched teeth as she giggled nervously. "That's not really important, is it? As long as the wedding happens, that's what counts."

"Riley's sweet. She's a good girl. She's nice and friendly and noble." Lillian said with a shrug, "I just don't think she's right for Lucas."

"Look." Maya said, "I get it. You have your reservations. Your son will get married; he'll no longer be attached to you because he'll have his own life now. But for the sake of the wedding, it might be best if you kept those thoughts to yourself, yeah? Comments like those will just make the process more daunting for everyone."

Maya knew it was kind of rude, but she didn't like the way his mother had spoken about Riley like she wasn't worthy of Lucas or something.

"Maya…" Missy growled under breath emphatically, "It's not really any of our business what the in laws think about the fiancée."

"If I don't approve of his choice for a wife, I do believe I have a right to state my opinion, regardless. I _am_ his mother, after all." Lillian said with a raised brow, staring Maya down impassively. "Riley isn't good for him. And she's a little dopey if you ask me. Lucas should have chosen a, you know, maybe more _intelligent_ woman."

"Excuse me?" Maya growled.

She already didn't like Lucas for taking Riley away from her. Now she _really_ didn't like him because of his shitty mother. How dare she.

Missy winced, "Wait Maya, calm—"

"Riley is extremely intelligent. Sure, maybe she can act a little goofy at times, but I'll have you know that Riley is one of the smartest people I know. She graduated high school cum laude with over thousands and thousands of As in her repertoire and an insatiable love and knowledge for outer space. And then she jumped straight into her master's studies at NYU despite only being 18 and did _two_ master's programs, one for research and another in coursework and sciences. Finished both her studies in a matter of three years all while juggling an intense internship at NASA GISS at Columbia University _and_ a double major in physics and math for her undergraduate studies." Maya snapped. "She could have graduated early, but she chose to spend another year with me, taking classes she'd never had before to expand her knowledge. She graduated from NYU magna cum laude, received her teaching license in record time and got a job as a professor of astronomy at UT within two years after only a year as a teacher's assistant at Columbia. She's in her second year of a five year program for her doctorate in astrophysics at the age of _twenty-six_. You want to talk about intelligent? Riley is the poster girl for intelligence all while remaining humble and kind and optimistic about life. So if you're going to insult Riley, at least get your facts straight, you pompous bitch."

Missy groaned, facepalming dejectedly. "We are so fired…"

Lillian's brows rose in surprise, a slightly impressed look in her hazel eyes.

"Don't you dare ever talk about Riley in front of me like that again." Maya continued. "I may be the wedding planner, but I'm also the maid of honour, and Riley is my best friend. I won't tolerate any badmouthing towards her. You think Riley isn't good enough for Lucas, but I think it's the other way around. Your prissy little spoiled brat of a son is probably not good for her if the way _you've_ been talking is any indication."

Lillian stared at her silently for quite a moment, her lips pursed, though no expression was on her face. Maya wondered if she really would get fired for her words, but she honestly didn't care. Riley didn't deserve that kind of trash talking. Especially not from the woman who would become her mother-in-law.

And then Lillian snorted and started laughing raucously, her melodious laughter filling up the entire office and causing both Missy and Maya to jump in surprise. They glanced at each other in slight confusion.

"Wow. I've never had anyone stand up to me like that before…" Lillian chuckled, trying to control her laughter. "My apologies. I shouldn't have judged her. I've only met her once, and Lucas hasn't said too much about her to me, so I didn't know. I hope my blunder won't incite a vitriolic relationship between us. I want this wedding to be pleasant as well."

Maya's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Lillian looked sincere enough, though Maya was still put off by her easy dismissal of Maya's pretty rude words.

"You should get to know Riley, especially since she's going to be in your family now. You may be surprised what you might find. And please don't insult her again."

"You're a good friend. And I understand. This pompous bitch won't make any comments like that anymore."

"Thank you, Mrs. Friar."

"Please, hun. Call me Lillian." She smiled congenially, "Now then. I suppose we should get on with this contract signing."

"Yes, I suppose so." Maya nodded, "Now on the second page of the contract, there is a list with rough estimates of the average price for the amenities of the wedding so you can calculate where your price range is going to be…"


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hi Guest who wondered about Maya not having a 'Massimo' right from the start :) I'm going to redirect you to Chapter 1's A/N, third paragraph. :D  
**

 **Thank you for the sweet reviews guys! You're all so nice and you always make my day with the wonderful things you say! It means a lot :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Maya, I hate you." Missy whined, tilting Maya's chin down and observing her nose, "I'm getting so sick of you making my life living hell. I can't even be mad at you anymore because you got hurt!"

Maya snorted, swatting her hand away. She settled further into her side of the booth, trying to get comfortable. Her stomach grumbled in protest, and Maya reminded herself it would only be a couple more minutes before their food was ready. She hadn't eaten anything in the morning since she had been rushing to get on time and she was hella hungry. Now that Lillian's contract had been signed and was all ready to go, she and Missy had headed over to a burger place for lunch on recommendation from Mama Friar. Once they were no longer famished, they could begin to formulate a tentative schedule for the event planning.

Lillian had been surprisingly pleasant the rest of the meeting. She was also pretty funny. A little bit blunt and maybe a little harsh in the way she spoke, but otherwise someone Maya could see herself being comfortable with. She kind of reminded Maya of Harper. But she wasn't going to forgive her that easily. Not yet. Not until she proved that she could treat Riley with the respect she deserved.

"Chill Missy. I'm fine."

"Seriously. Please don't ever scare me like that again." Missy sighed in annoyance, rubbing her temples as she reviewed Lillian's signed contract. "You showed up with that cold pack on your nose and your face was unbelievably pale, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I'm twenty-six, Maya. _Twenty-six_! Tell me why I feel like I've already lived several lifetimes. You'll be the death of me one day, I swear…"

Maya rolled her eyes, gently prodding her nose to see if she had any bump growing. But as far as it felt, there didn't seem to be anything out of place or jilted or misshapen. And the pain in her nose was only a dull throbbing by this point. Which was a definite plus for her. But the possibility for a black eye was still open, and she swore if she got a black eye, she'd track down that Huckleberry and return the favour with a knuckle sandwich to his face.

Maya's phone buzzed with a call and she glanced down at it. It was an unknown number. Probably some spam from her cellphone company. Her payment was due at the end of the month so this was probably a heads up call. She ignored it.

"I mean, what even happened to you? One minute, I'm thinking you're on your way to the office. The next, you show up like thirty minutes late with your nose busted up."

"I was on my way to the firm, and then some guy ran into me and knocked all the stuff out of my hands. Then when he was helping me pick up the stuff, he rammed into my nose."

Missy bit her lower lip, looking like she was trying to hold back a laugh.

"Oh." She said, shoulders slightly shaking in amusement, "That's what happened?"

"It's not funny." Maya snapped. "It hurt like a bitch and this guy, when he knocked the papers out of my hand, had to nerve to call me rude when he was rude first."

But she had been a bit petty and overly aggressive, the more she thought about the encounter. And he _had_ helped her afterward. He deserved a little more credit. All things considered, Maya had chewed his head off, but he still decided to take care of her without any incentive or ulterior motive. It was a little surprising.

"Did you kick his ass for it?"

"No…" Maya said, "I kind of passed out."

"What? Wait hold on. You never said that part."

"It happened after his head collided with my nose. Gave me a nosebleed."

"Oh. Right." Missy said, sliding the contract back into the folder, "You've got that whole faint when you see blood thing. I forgot."

"Yeah. But he helped me. And gave me the cold pack for my nose. I was kind of surprised that he was showing concern for a stranger."

"Well, who is he?" Missy asked, intrigued.

"I don't know."

"Was he attractive?"

"What does that matter in the grand scheme of things?" Maya asked with narrowed eyes.

"I'm just interested in knowing, that's all."

Maya didn't like the little sparkle in Missy's eyes. It was the same type of sparkle Riley would get when she thought Maya had finally met someone. The same sparkle her mother would get when they had mother-daughter days out and Katy would try to match make Maya with people they would see.

"Even if he was attractive—which I wasn't really paying attention to because my frickin' nose was on _fire,_ and I was pissed—it doesn't matter. Nothing will ever happen."

"I'm just saying, that kind of cliché meeting isn't something normal. What if you found your fairy tale prince? The one who'll melt your heart of stone and cynical soul and the one who will manage to capture the heart of the ever brutal and untouchable Maya Hart. What if you were destined to fall in love with this guy?"

"Yeah… that'll never happen." Maya snorted. "The day I fall in love with anyone will be the day Farkle decides to stop being a ladies man."

"Never say never, Maya." Missy said simply, smiling gratefully up at the waitress as she brought their burgers to their table. "That's an awfully long time. And you never know what could happen."

"I can say with utmost certainty, Missy: I will never fall in love. Especially not with a blockhead who literally has a block for a head."

"You keep telling yourself that, sweetie." Missy said with an amused little half smile.

Maya threw a fry at her head.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Okay LOLOL Last time I say this. And I'm going to be 100% clear this time lol. No more of my cryptic bullshit.  
**

 **This story contains Rucas but this is a _Lucaya_ story and _Lucaya_ endgame.  
**

 **Thanks for the reviews lovelies! You all are so sweet! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"You know, I never understood why you didn't like these types of movies…" Riley said, talking around the small handful of popcorn she'd stuffed in her mouth. "They've got everything. Romance, suspense, action, romance, violence, humour, romance, drama. And did I mention romance?"

"They're contrived notions of love on the basis that it occurs at first sight. Which is near impossible." Maya pointed out, throwing some popcorn at the screen of the TV illuminating Riley's darkened living room. "Philip was a hormonal, perverted guy who saw her and wanted to do her. I mean let's be real."

"Maya!" Riley giggled, flinging popcorn at her, "Why do you always have to pervert my favourite Disney movies?!"

"And you saw the way he looked at her in the forest." Maya continued, ducking her head and avoiding Riley's second popcorn assault. "There was a cut scene after they went on that little walk. When she shows up at the cottage later, she's in such a chipper mood. Twenty bucks says they banged."

"It's official. Sleeping Beauty has been ruined for me."

"It's okay, Riles." Maya said mock consolingly, pulling her knees up to her chest and snuggling further into the couch, "Fairy tale romances don't exist anyway."

"Yes they do." Riley countered with a happy sigh, "I'm living a fairy tale romance. About to marry my dream prince."

But was it really one if the prince's family did not approve?

Maya stared at her for a moment, remembering how Lillian had originally assumed Riley to be. Did Riley know? Riley could be a little clueless on occasion, but she wasn't a ditz. She must have picked up on some kind of feelings of disapproval. And it had to have been affecting her. Riley was strong. But Maya knew she was also insecure. And she had a feeling not having his parent's approval had probably at some point made her question whether she and Lucas should get married.

"Hey, Honey?"

"Yes, Peaches?" Riley turned to Maya with a smile.

"What's your relationship like with Lucas' parents?"

Riley's smile faltered briefly for a second, almost dropping, but she recovered fast as she turned back to face the TV. Anyone else who didn't know Riley wouldn't have picked up on it at all. But Maya was a seasoned Riley Reader and could translate her smiles effortlessly.

And the translation?

Not good.

"It's fine. Good." Riley said, staring holes in the TV.

"Riley, I know you're lying." Maya said, cutting her off quickly when she opened her mouth to protest, "So let's just skip the 'no I'm not' 'yes you are' thirty minute battle and talk honestly."

Riley let out a long sigh, hugging her panda pillow to her chest. "I thought they would like me. I really hoped they would like me. I swear, I'm not being conceited, but generally people like me."

"I know, babe. You're very likeable."

"And I'm marrying into the Friar family. I really need them to like me otherwise I won't be happy in the marriage if my in-laws can't stand me."

"Did they say anything to you to make you feel bad?" Maya asked with narrowed eyes.

"No… But I get these feelings. I haven't even met the extended family yet, and it already worries me. Because his parents haven't exactly made me feel welcome yet. There are times when I feel like secretly Lillian doesn't think I'm good enough for Lucas. And James asked about my Ph. D. studies and what I plan to do with my doctorate degree. When I told him I want to continue being a professor, he got this subtle look on his face, like he doesn't approve. I don't know… sometimes I feel like I'm not really taken seriously by them. Like they don't expect my relationship with Lucas to last or something. Like this marriage is a joke. Like maybe they're not trying to get to know me, despite the fact that I'm engaged to Lucas, because they think we won't actually get married. Like maybe they're waiting for his 'One' to come barreling into the picture, take Lucas by storm and toss me out of his heart…"

She tapered off with a somewhat dejected sigh, though her eyes weren't darkened with pain. Maya watched Riley carefully through her venting, knowing she really needed this. Riley was an optimist by nature, untouched by despair and she always had hope for the future. She walked into things expecting the best and the best usually happened for her. The exact opposite of Maya. So for her to rant this long about this situation meant that it had been weighing on her heart for quite a while. How long had this crap been going on? It made Maya's blood boil in rage.

"But this evening, before you got back, Lillian called me. Sh-she apologized. She said she acted like a pompous bitch towards me and that she wanted to get to know me better. We're getting lunch tomorrow." Riley said, her voice wavering as she glanced at Maya cheerfully. "I don't know what made her change her mind, but I have hope that my relationship with his parents will improve."

Maya smiled.

"If they ever say anything disparaging to you or even try to make you feel like you're not worthy of Lucas, let me know, okay? I will kick their asses to the moon and back."

"Maya, please don't. Violence is not the answer to this problem."

"Riley, I know you're nice, but don't even try to pretend that you haven't thought about punching them in the face at least once."

"…I mean, it was only once in a moment of weakness, but—"

"So let me be the one who throws the punches for you. That's what a maid of honour and best friend is for. You just focus on your impending marriage. This is your time. It's your wedding, and you deserve to be happy." Maya asserted, "Let me take care of any obstacles in your way. Just because we're not in junior high anymore doesn't mean The Riley Protection Squad no longer exists."

Riley searched Maya's eyes for a moment, her eyes pooling with tears. With a small laugh and a sniffle, she threw herself at Maya, knocking over the popcorn bowl and wrapping her arms around her neck. Riley buried her face in Maya's neck, her shoulders shaking slightly from her soft sobbing.

"Thank you." She sniffled, giggling. "I'm so glad you're here. I didn't know who to talk to about this because I couldn't bring this up with Lucas since he loves his parents and I was scared painting them in a negative light would make him choose sides and that he wouldn't choose me and I felt kind of alone…"

Maya rubbed her back soothingly, making a mental note to confront the Friar parents later for making Riley cry. She was going to make them grovel and beg for Riley's forgiveness. At least Lillian was taking measures to amend her past mistakes though.

She sincerely hoped Lucas wasn't as judgemental as his parents were. Riley said he was the perfect gentleman, but he was his parents' son. Who was to say he wouldn't start to adopt their behaviour? Maya was pretty positive that if he was, she would really kick his ass and then Riley would probably end their friendship for beating the shit out of her fiancé.

But it would be worth it in the long run as long as it kept jerks away from breaking Riley's heart.

No one broke Riley's heart.

 _Ever_.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I know I'm updating this daily, hahah but that's just because I'm finding time to write the chapter! I just want to warn you guys that that's not going to be the case soon, since the first term is beginning for me soon!  
**

 **Loulou, my love :3 Make an account! I'm going to answer your AoS question here: 1) You should definitely make those tshirts! xD That would be too funny 2) I actually do somewhat write my stories "backwards" interestingly enough. Or rather, it's like, I get an idea for a plot, I write the ending and where I want it to go and then I plot out the climax/conflict leading up to the ending and then I go back to the beginning and fill it in.**

 **Thank you for the reviews, loves! I appreciate the time you guys are taking to respond to the chapters! Hell, I appreciate the fact that you are reading them! It means a lot :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Are you just about done sending brunch invites to the bridesmaids?" Missy asked, checking her watch, "We have to meet Riley so she can drive us to Pappy Joe's ranch so you can do your whole insanely genius artistic aesthetic vision thing for the wedding. And I'd really like for us to be on time."

"Relax Missy." Maya drawled, shutting her laptop, "It's 10:00. We don't have to meet Riley until 11:00."

"Knowing you, we'll probably still get late…" she grumbled.

"Then go get your damn mocha frap so we can start leaving." Maya rolled her eyes, chewing on the end of her pen as she skimmed over some possible wedding themes for ranches in a magazine.

Missy stood up with a ' _humph_!', left the table and went back into UT's coffee shop.

Maya sighed and stretched her arms over her head, sighing contently at the heat surrounding her like a blanket. She'd only been in Austin for two days, but she already liked it here. There was just something about this city that was so enticing. It was quaint, but had the same kind of big city spirit as NYC (except with much more polite people).

Not to mention the summer weather, which was absolutely wonderful. Maya loved that she could literally deck herself out in her flowy strapless sundresses and still look professional, because that was what most everyone was wearing. Sure, the heat seemed like it would probably get stifling later in the summer, but that just meant that she could wear shorter clothes and it would still be acceptable (which honestly, she was really looking forward to. Maya had great stems, but she didn't get all that many chances to show it off in the city). She felt like one of the college kids walking around UT's campus and it was definitely a self-esteem booster to get interested trailing looks from some of the college guys. By college student definition, Maya was an "old maid", so that was certainly pleasant.

And she was really looking forward to going star gazing with Riley in a couple days. Riley was bringing along Lucas, since he knew the best spots in the city, and it was somewhat of a downer that the bratty son would be joining them, but Maya supposed she could be civil enough. Riley had told her that he liked art museums and could spend hours looking at paintings like Maya, so she figured that could be something she could converse about.

Maya's phone buzzed and when she glanced down at it, it showed an unknown number. She rolled her eyes and ignored it, making a mental note to call the cellphone company and tell them to piss off and that she'd pay her bill on the last day. She gathered her hair, tying it in a high ponytail to let her neck breath a bit from the thick mass collecting heat. Not to mention, in heat like this, there was a high chance her hair would frizz. And with her already wavy hair, it would not turn out pretty.

"Missy's probably just about done ordering."

Maya stood up from her seat, gathering their files in her tote bag and then slipping her laptop into it. Maya slipped on her shades before spinning around.

And promptly bumping into someone's chest.

She jumped a bit back in surprise that she had run into someone and looked up to apologize.

It was the green eyed cowboy from yesterday, holding a cup of coffee in his hands and wearing a small smirk on his lips.

"I thought it was you. We meet again."

Her eyes narrowed as she lifted her sunglasses, setting them on her head.

"So first you knock over all my stuff and now you run into me, Huckleberry?"

" _I_ ran into _you_?" he snorted, his green eyes dancing in mirth, "I think it was the other way around, Shortstack."

"Shortstack?" Maya growled.

"It was either that or Chihuahua. I figured the second one would probably end with your uh," he glanced down at her feet with a perturbed look, " _really_ sharp and pointy and tall heels crushing my toes."

Maya folded her lips in quickly to keep the smile from appearing on her face. She couldn't help it. The look on his face had been kind of funny, but there was no way she would give him the satisfaction of thinking he had almost made her laugh. She glanced down at his hand holding the cup.

"Hot coffee in this hot weather?" she asked with a raised brow, "Do you enjoying baking in the heat?"

He smiled, scratching the back of his head. "Truth be told, I'm addicted to coffee. I need it like air to get through my day. Because when I don't drink it, I end up running into short people and then smashing their noses."

Maya rolled her eyes, trying not to pay attention to the fact that his smile made his eyes light up and sparkle in the sunlight. She hadn't really noticed it the day before, because she was trying not to die from pain, but he had a really nice face. Attractive.

"Are you always this dorky?" Maya asked snidely. "Or am I just lucky?"

"Depends on the day." He responded. "How's your nose, by the way?"

"Feels better, thanks. You're just lucky I didn't get a black eye from it."

"Let me guess: you would have returned the favour?"

She opened her mouth. And then she closed it, pursing her lips in annoyance that he was able to read her so easily. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Missy inside the Starbucks waiting for her drink, but looking over her shoulder at Maya.

"…No." Maya mentally grimaced, knowing she had to get out of the situation. Missy would probably be curious about the whole thing. "Anyway, I have to go, so…"

She turned to leave and join up with Missy inside when he spoke.

"Wait. Are you… uh…"

Maya faced him again, frowning in confusion. His brows were furrowed slightly as he stared at her, like he couldn't quite figure something out.

"What?" she said, semi-impatiently and a little put off by the intensity of his gaze. His eyes were an alarming and striking green.

"I feel like I've seen you before." He finally said, a little quietly, like he couldn't place it.

"Well, you did clobber my nose with your head yesterday." Maya said slowly, giving him a duh look.

He snorted in amusement. "I meant, have we met before? Have you always lived in this city?"

"Wrong. And no we've never met. You're probably mistakened."

"True, it's just… I can't help but feel like I know you somehow… Did you go to college here? Or do you go to college here?"

"Wrong again. And I'm twenty-six, cowboy." Maya smirked. Was he trying to hit on her? He'd basically complimented her. "Wow, you're really bad at this."

"I'm just trying to figure you out."

"Okay. I'll bite." Maya sassed. He wanted to play it dumb, huh? "You know, your skills could use a lot of work though."

"Skills?"

"Flirting skills. You've got none." She adopted a fake country accent, "' _Have we met before?_ ' Is that the best you've got? Go back to the drawing board and try again."

He laughed incredulously, and Maya once again tried to force herself from noticing that his laughter sounded like music to her ears. Unabashed, melodious, and it perfectly matched the low pitch of his voice. It sounded a tiny bit, vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place where or if she'd heard something similar before.

"What? Whoa, I am _not_ flirting with you."

"Yes you are." Maya poked his chest, her eyes narrowing. "And I can prove it. Let me point out a couple things to you."

He rose a challenging brow, his expression amused as he stared down at her.

"Yeah? And what's that?"

"You extended our conversation, despite the fact that we are only a casual acquaintanceship."

"So me being polite is flirting?" He said sarcastically, "Do go on."

"You called me back after I tried to leave the conversation."

"Southern hospitality." He countered. "You're someone I might know. I wanted to check."

"Yeah sure…" Maya snarked, "You know you also have maintained frequent eye contact the entire time."

"Your eyes are easy to look at. And that's just the way I was raised. Make eye contact to respect your conversation partner."

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?" Maya snapped, somewhat flustered, especially because of the easy compliment he had just paid her.

"Could say the same thing about you." He riposted without missing a beat, his lips quirked up in a cute smile.

Maya rose a brow, a little impressed by how easily he managed to match her wit. Not many people could keep up with her when she wanted to throw them off their game.

But she would win.

She always did.

"You're leaning."

"What?"

"You're leaning into me."

And then he blinked a couple times, as if he suddenly realized that he was slightly leaning down, a little closer to her than he should have been if he wasn't flirting. A little closer than he was before. He straightened up slowly and took a step back with such an extreme look of surprised bewilderment on his face that Maya felt kind of bad for him for a moment.

"I was leaning…"

He looked like he was so lost.

"Hey Heehaw. It's fine you know. I'm not mad."

"Right…" he said with a frown, rubbing the back of his neck and looking so confused, "That's uh… Wow… Hey, I've gotta go. Work. But I'll uh, I'll see you around?"

He walked past her before she could give a response, and Maya stood there for a moment, her eyes narrowed. Was he running away?

Right.

Of course he was.

He had probably been flirting because he thought it would be fun to hit on someone, but when put on the spot, he couldn't deliver. Typical guys.

Maya snorted and rolled her eyes.

She had no time for idiots like him.

Maya turned to head inside with a roll of her eyes only to find Missy standing outside by the door with a huge smile on her face.

"Shut up." Maya said automatically, already knowing what Missy was gearing up to ask.

"Who was that?"

"Nobody."

"Didn't look like nobody. He was smoking hot. And he knew you." Missy said, a shrewd twinkle to her eyes. "Seeing as how we've been here only one full day and the only other person you've met is Lillian with the exception of your nose clobberer, I'm going to deduce that that guy is the one who hit your nose."

"Shut up." Maya repeated, speed walking away from Missy to go to their rendez-vous point for Riley to pick them up.

Missy's laughter followed behind her as they made their way down the sidewalk.

"You know I'm just going to bring him up later."

Maya groaned, knowing damn well that Missy wouldn't let it go. She just hoped she wouldn't bring in Riley into it. Riley was the queen of not letting things go.

Especially when they pertained to any guy and Maya.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hmmm… I think this story is starting to shift slightly more towards drama and angst than humour LOLOL Should I change the genre?**

 **Thank you for your kind words everyone! I appreciate all the support and I thank you for being so sweet! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Contrary to what Maya had believed, Pappy Joe's ranch was not a dusty dry desert with buffaloes and cacti and tumbleweeds bouncing around. It was actually a rich plot of acres and acres of land surrounding a large town home sitting atop a small hill, flanked by gorgeous trees and a spacious, lush green lawn that Maya could see a large family having barbecues on. She and Missy had set an official tour of the premises for the next week when Pappy Joe was back from out of town, but since Riley had been there before, she'd gotten permission to show them the exteriour at least so that Maya could get started formulating her wedding vision.

Though Maya wasn't interested in ever getting married, she couldn't lie. This seemed like the _perfect_ place to get married. She liked it. It was quaint and homey, and it had that kind of big family feel to it that Maya had always wished she could experience since it had always just been her mother and her.

"This is the backyard?" Maya asked, pensively rubbing her chin as she sketched the wide open space in her sketchbook.

"Maya has this superpower, Riley." Missy chattered excitedly to Riley, as they walked a little behind her. "She can look at a place and easily figure out the perfect arrangement, colours, decorations, _everything_ for the wedding. It's absolutely incredible."

"Yeah, I bet. Maya has always been incredible at anything having to do with art or the creation of art." Riley said proudly, "In high school, she won a highly coveted MOMA internship, even beating out a bunch of seasoned college artists!"

"So why aren't you painting freelance, Maya?" Missy asked her in confusion.

"You can't make a living out of painting…" Maya murmured, squinting her eyes as she observed the space around them. "And I had loans to pay."

It was a dream lost. But at least the wedding venues, to her, were like canvases though. Blank slates that she would fill with tables and chairs and flowers and lace and décor and all sorts of other little things like fountains and ice sculptures and whatever was aesthetically pleasing to the eye until she thought it was perfect. It was like creating 3D art. She supposed—in this somewhat loathsome job having to deal with people in "love"—getting to utilize her love of art was a great payoff.

"I kept telling her she could make a living out of it, especially with her skill." Riley whined to Missy. "But you know Maya."

"Always the cynic." Missy sighed.

"Right? She didn't believe it would ever happen. And she said it wasn't worth being a struggling artist juggling twenty jobs to pay her rent."

"It's not cynicism." Maya countered, shooting Riley and Missy pointed glares over her shoulder, "It's realism. I had enough common sense to get a business and econ degree along with the art. And here I am. Successful and doing well for myself without having to work multiple jobs like in college and high school."

Riley pouted. "Tomato, to-mah-to."

Maya snorted and turned around, facing them and lifting her hands up as if they were a camera in order to capture the image of people with the house in the background. It looked nice. The sun was bright and high up in the sky, but she knew that at sunset, the potential pictures the photographer could capture would be phenomenal. And she knew _just_ which photographer to ask.

She knew he wouldn't agree unless she bribed him, but she _did_ have his TV, and she was sure he would agree to the bribe to get it back. Maya figured he could take a break from photographing all of his models to take pictures for their best friend's wedding.

"Got a good idea of how to transform this place, Maya?" Missy asked as Maya flipped a page in her sketchbook and started sketching some more.

"Sort of. I just need a few more images." Maya glanced up, smiling at Riley. "But don't worry, Honey. I'll make sure to give you the fairy tale wedding of your dreams."

"…And speaking of dreams…" Missy said, a mischievous smirk growing on her face, "Maya met the most dreamy guy today."

Riley gasped in excitement, squealing slightly as she hopped up and down. "Maya met a guy?!"

Missy nodded as Maya groaned. "Technically, it was the second time she met him."

"Wait." Riley said, looking way too giddy than Maya felt comfortable with, "Was it bash-your-nose-in-with-his-skull guy you told me about last night?"

"Yeah." Maya rolled her eyes. "Please don't make a big deal out of it."

"Is he attractive?!" Riley exclaimed, completely ignoring her request.

Yes he was. Very much so.

"He's okay looking."

Missy scoffed, "She's lying, Riley. This guy was a _babe_."

"Why didn't you tell me he was attractive?" Riley said with a frown, "You're supposed to tell me how attractive someone you meet is on the scale of hotness so I can freak out over it for you!"

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you…" Maya muttered, trying to ignore her tittering friend and finish up her drawing.

"Well, what's his name?" Riley asked.

Maya frowned, realizing she'd never actually gotten it and that the guy had run with his tail between his legs before she'd even had a chance to ask.

"I don't know… And I don't want to know his name."

"Why not? You should definitely get his name and number. I'm sure you two could have a lot of fun." Missy winked, "You should have seen them, Riley. They were flirting so hard."

Riley's eyes widened as she beamed, open mouthed in that super giddy, excited way that told Maya she wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight because Riley would try to wrangle as many details as she possibly could about the Huckleberry.

"This guy was literally so close to you Maya, at first I thought he was trying to look down your dress." Missy laughed as Maya's lip curled. "I have a great eye for these things. I'm so sure he was attracted to you."

"I highly doubt it." Maya snapped, "And _we_ weren't flirting. _He_ was flirting with _me_."

"I know what I saw."

Maya flipped Missy off who only laughed. Riley giggled, looking like she was gushing.

"Maya, this is perfect! What if you found your Prince Charming too?! You need to get his number next time."

"Riley, for the last time, I am not interested in being with anyone. Especially not that Huckleberry idiot."

"Can you imagine the stories you could tell your children about how you met?! What if this was fate, Maya? You couldn't find anyone in NYC, but fate brought you here and you finally met your One!"

Maya groaned, knowing it was too late. Riley had already gotten into her matchmaker zone, and Maya knew she wasn't going to leave the whole thing alone.

"Is he single?" Riley asked.

"Well, I guess? He didn't have a ring on his finger…"

"If you ever find out his name, you should totally tell me! Lucas knows a lot of people in the city, so maybe if he knows your Prince Charming, I can get him to formally introduce the two of you or something. And then we can have double dates!"

"Riley, I'm not interested." Maya said, shutting her sketchbook, "I'm here to do a job, not hook up with idiots who knock over my stuff, nearly break my nose, insult my height, and then run away after _they_ start flirting."

"But Maya—"

"No buts." She cut Riley off. "We're here to focus on planning your wedding. So let's focus on figuring out what to do with all this land."

Riley's eyes narrowed. "Fine. But we're talking about this tonight, got it? No negotiation."

"This is all your fault, Missy." Maya growled.

Missy laughed and the three women continued on their way towards the small body of water near the stables.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Some of you seem to be fearing Riley's heart getting broken. To that, the only thing I can say is "keep reading" lol :P What will happen is not what you'll expect. (But just to clarify, you guys know I love Smiley Riley, right?)  
**

 **I appreciate the reviews you guys! Thank you for the wonderful comments! *pinches cheeks* Wuv you! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Maya stared up at the trees, holding her phone up to snap a pic of an abandoned bird's nest haphazardly settled on a tree branch. She liked taking walks in parks. They were perfect for when she needed to sort out her thoughts, crunch numbers and figures, or consider the best arrangements. Something about the clean air and being at one with nature really brought out the artist in her.

The park she'd found wasn't anything like some of the parks she was used to in Greenwich Village with a bunch of musicians and people painting and drawing caricatures and the like, but this place was nice enough. She'd been checking it out for a while, trying to see if she liked it and along the way, finding some pretty good inspiration for her leisure time paintings.

Maya brought her phone back down to observe the shot and see if it was worth painting when something low in her peripheral right next to her feet moved.

It was a peacock strutting on its way beside her.

"Holy shit!" Maya exclaimed.

It took her completely off guard and she jumped backwards in surprise, stumbling on the extended root of a tree and feeling herself start to fall. She flailed, trying to somewhat keep her balance though she had no doubt she was about to land on her bum.

Two hands caught her by the armpits before she could fall, but not before she felt her flying fist connect with something.

"Was that payback for me hitting your nose?" A deep voice chuckled behind her. "Are we always going to keep running into each other like this?"

"You mean are _you_ going to keep running into _me_?" Maya said with narrowed eyes, shooting up out of his arms and straightening herself out. She was sure her face was red. "Are you sure there aren't multiples of you in the city because I'm starting to think you're following me around. You keep showing up everywhere I go. And it's nauseating."

"In my defense, only the first time was actually _my_ fault." He pointed out, a brow raised. "And I'm here because I'm looking for an injured stray cat I saw around here. If no one else is helping her, it might as well be me."

"Well aren't you a model human being, Moral Compass." Maya drawled, watching the peacock warily as it continued on its way.

He laughed and once again, Maya tried to ignore the way his laughter lit up his face and made him even more attractive.

"You know, maybe it's fate that I'm supposed to annoy you."

"Urgh fate? Seriously? What a load of crap." Maya rolled her eyes. "Try a series of coincidences. An _unfortunate_ series of coincidences."

He chuckled, and Maya's gaze went to the trees behind him when she caught sight of the haze of the sun creating an interesting film hovering above the leaves. She knew it was only due to reflection of the light off of the smooth side of the leaf, but it was a pretty cool effect, and Maya decided she would one day like to paint something like that. She snapped a quick picture of it after zooming and focusing on the image.

His brows furrowed in confusion. "I might sound a little crazy and forgive me if I'm wrong, but did you just take a picture of me?"

"No." she said, eyeing him in annoyance, "I'm sure you must be used to random people ogling you and taking pictures of you all the time on the street, but I didn't take one of you, so get off your high horse."

"Ogling me?"

She held her tongue, realizing that her comment was implying that she found him attractive, which she did not want him to know that she thought so. But based off of the mischievous little spark in his eyes, he _did_ know what she had been getting at. And he thought it was amusing, the jerkass.

She ignored his question. "I'm taking a picture of the leaves over there. The sunlight is creating some sort of haze off of them."

"That's pretty random." He looked intrigued. "Why?"

Maya shrugged, slipping her phone in her pocket. "I want to paint it."

"You paint?" His brows rose, a bit impressed. "What kind of stuff?"

"Nothing really. Scenery and nature are my strengths but I dabble in surrealist artwork every once in a while."

"That's pretty amazing. Why surrealism?"

Maya sighed, picking at her fingernails. "It kind of takes me out of reality. Lets me transform my everyday life and things I see into what I want them to be. I guess it's a way for me to release my inner child in a way because I never really had a childhood. Or at the very least a way for me to reconcile lost hopes and dreams with my reality."

And then Maya abruptly stopped talking, her eyes slightly widening, appalled at the lack of her usual filter. Maya mentally cursed under her breath when she realized she had revealed much more about her life than she intended to. She hadn't been trying to tell him about her life; it had just kind of slipped out. Once she started talking about it, it had been hard not to just reveal it all. He had asked why, and she'd never really told anyone about her reasons why before because they wouldn't understand it. She just didn't understand why she'd told him of all people, though.

Damn Huckleberry had managed to lower her defenses before she even knew it.

She glanced up at him cautiously and was surprised to see him contemplating her silently, no particular expression on his face, though she could see a type of somber understanding hidden deep in his eyes.

"Well, I'd love to see some of your stuff one day. I've always liked art." He smiled.

Maya was grateful that he had decided to ignore everything else she had said and didn't press.

"Well at the rate you keep running into me, you probably will."

He laughed. "So what's your name? I feel like since we've met each other more than once, we should at least acquaint ourselves properly."

Maya's eyes narrowed. "Are you always this nosy? And I'm not interested in telling you my name, Ranger Rick. Quite frankly, I don't want you knowing who I am."

"Fair enough. Trust issues?"

"Something like that."

Plus there was the fact that she wasn't interested in getting to know him. Relationships were not her thing. And she wanted to stay away from him. Because of what Missy said, now Maya knew she was subconsciously looking for signs that he was attracted to her, and honestly, she just really didn't want to deal with anything of the sort at the moment.

"You can trust me."

She rose a brow. "I barely know you, Hopalong."

Though strangely, she realized she honestly kind of felt like she could, which was odd because it took forever for her to grow to trust anyone. Hell, she still didn't trust some people she'd known since junior high. Butshe knew why. She suspected it had a lot to do with the fact that he had looked completely understanding when she'd blurted out some of her past. Plus, he was interested in art. She would have expected a guy who looked like him to be a one dimensional jock type.

And Maya cursed in her mind, realizing he really had thrown her off guard and that deep down, she really _was_ a little interested in him. Looks aside, she was starting to think that there was a lot more to him than met the eye.

"True, but I guess that's the whole thing about taking a chance." He said, "I'm completely trustworthy. I caught you, didn't I?"

"That doesn't mean anything."

"Then how about I tell you something embarrassing? Would that equal knowing your name?"

"Depends on the level of embarrassing." She tugged her ponytail holder out and shook her hair out slowly before running her hand through it to get out any tangles. "And how would you even be able to verify I'm telling the truth anyway? I could literally give you a fake name to learn that embarrassing thing."

Maya intended to retie it, but when she glanced up at him, she froze. He was staring down at her, expression a little dazed.

"What?" she asked, feeling her neck grow hot at his gaze, "Do I have something on my face?"

Her heart started racing when he stepped closer and reached over her hair.

"What are you doing?" she bristled, the urge to run away going through her body.

"There's a leaf in your hair… I'm just…"

His fingers brushed gently through her hair as he took out the leaf, and Maya felt goosebumps rise on her neck as he retracted his arm and let go of it.

His brows were slightly furrowed.

"I've never seen you with your hair down…"

It sounded like there was a 'have I?' tacked onto the end of his sentence. He seemed like he was trying to convince or reassure himself of something. He was making her feel awkward and a little exposed.

She rolled her eyes, jumping back to her sarcasm to help mask how gawky she kind of felt at the moment because of him.

"We've met three times. _Obviously_ you haven't."

He ignored her snarky comment. "It looks nice. Down, I mean."

"It makes me look like a teenager." Maya argued. "I'm already short enough as it is. So I tie it up."

"I disagree."

"About the teen thing or the height?"

"Definitely not the height…" He chuckled. "You don't look like a teen. Your hair down fits your face."

Maya didn't really know how to respond to that. The way he was looking at her was making her lose her words. She didn't really know what to say.

"Quit staring at me."

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "It's just… you really do look familiar. I can't help but keep thinking I've seen you from somewhere. Especially since your hair is down like this."

"This crap again." Maya deadpanned, eyes narrowing in annoyance.

"Sorry. It's just that I think I know you. It's either that or I'm just insane."

She let out a long sigh. "Look. It's pretty obvious that you've never met me before and you've never seen me anywhere before. Just drop it, okay? Whoever this person is that I resemble, they're not me."

"You're right. Sorry about that. I'll stop bringing it up." His lips curved up into a smile. "But you know, if you just told me your name, I could more easily figure out if I've ever made your acquaintance."

"Nice try, cowboy…" Maya said, checking her phone for texts. Missy sent one regarding scheduling a negotiation with Farkle for photography. Maya would have called him herself, but he wasn't quite pleased with her at the moment, so she didn't think it would be prudent for her to try to negotiate with him. "Anyway, good luck finding the cat. I've got somewhere to be."

"I guess I'll see you next time we run into each other." He chuckled.

"Or never." Maya said, sauntering away.

She didn't know if he was staring after her or not, but she couldn't deny that her pulse was thrumming in excitement.

And for the first time in three years, she felt a little more confident wearing her hair down.

What was it about this guy?

He was much less revolting than anyone she'd ever met before.

Maybe… Maybe she should give him a chance the next time they met. He was pleasant enough, if not a sometimes dork.

And it's not like she was into him or anything.

Maya smiled, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

But she couldn't lie.

She _was_ intrigued.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I really should be sleeping, but I thought I'd at least put out a chapter before I got back into the grind of life and things! Ahahaha xD  
**

 **Thank you for the reviews! I appreciate your interest in the story and thank you for being so friendly and sweet! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Well, I think you're right, Riley." Maya said appreciatively, "This is probably the best damn barbecue and milkshake I've ever had."

Riley giggled. "Told you. Anyway, I know you've only been here two days, but how is Austin for you so far?"

"It's okay." Maya said indifferently, dipping a fry in her milkshake before eating it. "Different from New York. But likeable."

"You sure it's not the city that's likeable, but that attractive guy you met?" Riley said slyly, "Who apparently you met again today which is definitely fate by now. Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. But three times? Looks like the universe is pulling some strings to make sure you two are together."

"Riles." Maya said, giving Riley a blank look.

"Oh c'mon. You guys obviously had some sort of connection. Think about it. In two days of being here, you two have managed to meet _three_ times. Maybe it's finally happening for you! _Love_. It's on its way!"

"It doesn't exist, Pumpkin." Maya said with a roll of her eyes.

"Which is what you're only saying because you haven't ever been swept off your feet by it yet. You'll know when it happens. You should get to know this guy for real."

"Okay… So maybe I _am_ a little interested—"

"Oh my gosh! Yes!" Riley squealed. "Double dates!"

"— _But_ I'm not just going to hop into trying to date him. He could be a real creep for all I know and it'll take me a lot before I finally decide I trust him. Something has to be off about him, even if I haven't figured it out yet."

"Have you ever considered that you can't figure it out yet because he's perfect for you in every way, Maya?"

"Impossible." Maya waved it off, "But anyway, enough about me. I know I hate talking about love and stuff, but you've barely told me anything about your mysterious fiancé or upcoming wedding and I feel like as your maid of honour, I should listen every once in a while."

"Well, you and Missy are having dinner with us tomorrow night. Lucas won't be a mystery to you anymore."

"Yeah, but I need to be prepared for threatening and blackmail if he breaks your heart. And also, you never told me how he proposed."

"Oh." Riley chewed contemplatively on a fry. "We were watching a movie at my place and then he just kind of asked if I would marry him."

Maya nodded in approval.

"Short and sweet and to the point. Looks like he's got some taste." She teased.

But Riley's lips turned down in a slight frown, the pout in them unmistakable, and Maya recognized the look as one where Riley was usually displeased.

"So... _not_ good. What did he do wrong?"

"I mean, it is sweet, I guess, but… I was kind of hoping for something bigger. Not like fireworks or anything but you know. Maybe a _bigger_ proposal with a bunch of flowers or like in an expensive restaurant. I kind of wanted to be swept off my feet."

"So tell him to propose again."

"Maya that's silly."

"No it's not. You want to be regaled, and he didn't properly regale you. So tell him." Maya's eyes narrowed. "You know, now that I think about it, didn't you use to tell me that you wanted to get married at Disneyworld, the happiest place in the world, near all the smiling mascots with Donald Duck as your ring bearer?"

"Oh I remember that… Wishful thinking, huh…" Riley chuckled, dipping a fry into Maya's vanilla milkshake. Maya smiled. She'd introduced Riley to the delicacy and dare she say it, it was now her favourite dish. But Riley looked kind of wistful, and Maya knew this wasn't just wishful thinking. Riley was holding back.

"You weren't kidding. You really wanted that Disneyworld wedding." Maya stated sympathetically.

Riley kind of winced. "Honestly, I do. I want to ride in a pumpkin carriage and get to wear glass slippers for my wedding and have Lucas ride in on a white horse like a prince."

"So what you're telling me," Maya rose a dangerous brow. "Is that this wedding is nothing like what _you_ want?"

"Oh no." Riley groaned. "Maya. Don't get like that."

"Like what?" She growled.

" _Standoffish_. Lucas doesn't know about my little fantasies. So he probably thought I would be okay with getting married at the ranch."

"Well did you tell him?"

"I couldn't. His mom and family thought it would be a great idea to get married at the ranch. And since he's really close to Pappy Joe, it was kind of expected. Especially because they believe Pappy Joe is going to will his ranch to Lucas. I didn't want to come in and make them dislike me anymore than they already did by wanting to change everything."

"This is why marriage is a load of horse shit. You have to compromise what you want and bend over backwards for someone else's will but what about yourself, huh? Why are you just letting your dreams go? That's not fair to you. You should be allowed to have your dream."

Riley shook her head. "I'm okay with it, Maya. I promise."

But Maya wasn't convinced. She swore if Lucas was a controlling ass towards Riley at dinner, she would kick his ass. A waitress bustled by them in a rush to bring out an order and Maya sighed, knowing that berating Riley for not properly telling him how she felt about it all wasn't going to do anything since Riley seemed willing to change everything she wanted for Lucas.

"How was lunch with Lillian, by the way. I didn't get a chance to call you after we checked out the ranch to ask."

"Oh yeah. I forgot. Where did you go after I dropped you off at my place?"

"I went to a park nearby to check it out."

If she was staying in this city for the next months, and possibly for the rest of her life, then Maya would have to get acquainted with it beforehand. Maya hadn't told Riley yet about the possible job offer though. It wasn't because she wasn't sure if she wanted to take it. The thing that made Maya wary was the fact that she wanted to move here for Riley, but she wasn't sure how she would fit in Riley's new life and dynamic with Lucas. And she didn't want to be a third wheel for the rest of her time here. Which was why Maya was biding her time to tell her. She'd see what life in Austin was like with Riley and her husband, and then she would make her decision.

"Okay. Well lunch was good actually." Riley said cheerfully, stretching out her arms and then rubbing her full stomach in satisfaction. "She asked about my work and what I enjoyed doing and seemed legitimately interested in what I had to say. Lucas even joined us for lunch. I wonder if he had anything to do with his mother's change of heart."

"Probably." Maya said, hiding her smirk behind her hand. "Everything ended well?"

"Yeah. She had to meet with a client, though, so she left a little early. But she smiled kindly at me before she left whereas before it was tight lipped."

"Okay good."

When Maya glanced up at Riley though, she was picking at her fingernails, something that Maya knew Riley only did when something was bothering her.

"What happened after? Because clearly something is weighing on your mind."

"I mean, maybe… Something _weird_ happened, but I'm not too worried I guess."

"Weird what?"

"It's about Lucas. After his mom left, he told me honestly that he might have developed a harmless crush or a subconscious physical attraction to someone and apologized to me for it but said that he'd never let it go anywhere because he loves me."

Maya's eyes narrowed. She was appalled.

"A _crush_?" Maya spat in disgust. "What is he, in grade school? Set him straight and knock some sense into his head for even looking at another woman."

"But see, that's the thing. As much as I want to be mad, being physically attracted to someone else is _normal._ You meet good looking people everyday, and I don't like it, but as a mature adult, I know that despite the fact that we are in a committed relationship, biological processes won't stop attraction if it happens."

"Okay, whatever about that crap." Maya said angrily, "If he's attracted to someone else, how do you know you can trust him not to act on said attraction?"

"Well that's what being in a committed relationship means. I have to trust."

" _Bullshit_! You don't have to do anything. You should kick his ass for having those thoughts!"

"Maya…"

"No, Riley. Listen to me." She persisted. "I've worked with countless brides and grooms who have had cold feet. Some were okay. Others were not. But one thing I do know in this situation is that it could develop into something like feelings for the other person. How many times does he see this other woman anyway? Does she work with him?"

"She doesn't work with him. And he said it was only a couple of times. And he doubted he would see her again."

"Riley, not trying to rock the boat or anything, but aren't you skeptical about him? If he's developing random crushes on people now, don't you wonder what's going to happen in the future?"

"I do think it's strange, since in all the time I've known him, he's never really noticed anyone else, but Lucas is a good guy. He would never hurt me. It's probably just momentary cold feet." Riley pointed out. "And do you realize how many guys probably wouldn't tell their fiancée about a physical attraction they have for someone else? They would just ignore it and pretend it didn't exist and then that would make things worse. At least he had the decency to tell me. And that's okay with me."

"Riley… I don't like it."

"I'm fine Maya. Honestly." She giggled. "It's not like he's trying to get to know her on a deeper personal level or anything. And plus, it's probably someone random he'll never see again. A subconscious attraction isn't that bad as long as he still loves me."

"Fine. I'll let you 'convince' me this time. But the minute he starts to stray or lets his eyes wander too far, I'm hunting him down and putting my foot up his ass."

Riley laughed, rolling her eyes sarcastically. "Oh Peaches. You're always _such_ a pleasure."

Maya chuckled and snatched the fry on its way to Riley's mouth out of her hand to her indignant cry.

Riley may have "won" the round this time, but now Maya was _really_ going to be on Lucas' tail.

The minute—the second—he did anything wrong, she'd be on him like a hound dog.

And it wouldn't end pretty for the so called Prince Charming.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Urgh... frickin' exams... I can't even enjoy this tea because I have to study! LOLOL Oh well! xD Also to all these predictions ahahah, have I ever been predictable, guys? ;3  
**

 **Hi Guest! I forgot to respond last chapter, but Farkle is "mad" at Maya because she has his TV and she won't give it back. It was from Chapter 3 ahahaha :3 (My bad... chapter 4)  
**

 **Thank you for the kind words! I'm happy you are enjoying the story! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

 **UPDATE 10.03.15:** **OKAY WOW. So the girl with the brown hair who sits next to Yindra? Her name is apparently _Jade_ but I called her  Jane because I thought she looked like a Jane! Holy crap! I was only one letter off! Anyway, her name has been changed from Jane to Jade, her actual name. (/^▽^)/**

* * *

"Alright!" Darby shouted, hyper out of her mind, "Let's order a bottle of vodka and get drunk off of our asses!"

Sarah rolled her eyes and took her shoulders, seating her back down calmly in her chair.

"Darby, we're at a nice place. And it's only 2:00 PM." Sarah chastised softly, "Can you tone it down a bit?"

"She hasn't changed one bit." Yindra said dryly to Jade and Maya.

Maya nodded in agreement, raising an eyebrow at the blonde girl she and Riley used to go to school with in high school. Though Maya suspected Darby's behaviour was because she was already drunk.

Maya had been chatting with the other bridesmaids at the table in the bistro for a couple hours now, enjoying a nice brunch so they could all get to know one another. Riley couldn't make it to brunch that afternoon, but Maya planned to set up a pampering day and spa session for all the bridesmaids with Riley so they could all hang out.

Of the bridesmaids, Maya knew four of them from back when she was still in school. There was Darby from high school, still crazy as always and the wild party girl she'd always been. Yindra and Jade had gone to school with Riley and Maya since middle school, and the four of them had been in the same friend group for about seven years. In fact, Maya tended to run into Yindra on occasion because they frequented the same bars sometimes. Sarah, Maya didn't know as well, because she was one of Riley's sorority sisters from NYU, but the times they'd talked, she'd always been friendly. Apparently, Sarah and Darby basically grew up in apartments next door to each other so they'd been best friends for life. And finally, Smackle, a supergenius, young physics professor at UT who had befriended Riley because of their mutual youngness in a profession typically held by older people. She didn't talk much, but wasn't unfriendly to any of them and she cracked a smile every once in a while when something amused her.

Like now.

"Maya, those waiters are checking us out!" Darby said, waving flirtatiously at two young men standing near the counter, grinning at the women. "How about we team up again like old times and do the evil blonde twin, good blonde twin act again to con them into a threesome with us?"

Oh yeah. She was definitely drunk.

"They look like they're in undergrad." Maya narrowed her eyes. "And no thanks, Darby. I'm not really into the whole meaningless fling thing anymore. I don't want anyone touching me when they have no interest in anything other than a physical relationship. That's all anyone wants in relationships these days. No substance. That's why relationships don't last. Well… that and love doesn't exist."

"Awww…" Darby pouted, ignoring her little rant. "But you do evil twin so well! Please tell me you'll at least get wasted with me during the wedding? You were my drinking buddy in high school!"

"Yeah, I'll get wasted with you. But I'm not hooking up with anyone."

"Yes! I can live with that."

"Darby, can you please calm down before we get kicked out?!" Jade snapped, scoffing, "Damn. I haven't seen you in like eight years and you haven't changed a bit."

"Man, I knew things would be like old times." Yindra said, chuckling in mirth, "Glad to see you're still cynical, Maya. It's actually refreshing for once."

"Why do you say that?"

"She was dumped by her boyfriend." Jade supplied.

"Yupp…" Yindra sighed, to sympathetic looks from the other women. "Found him in bed with another girl…"

The girls all quieted for a bit, uncomfortably nudging food on their plates or averting their gazes if they were in successful relationships.

"Right…" Maya said, trying to wipe away the awkward atmosphere, "So anyway, continuing off of what we started talking about, as the wedding planner, I've seen a lot of tense weddings because nobody really knew each other or got to know each other. So I was thinking about setting up some type of mixer in the future for the entire wedding party. We can have a pre-wedding party with the groomsmen too and just chill and get to know each other. With the exception of Smackle who knows a couple of them, I'm sure none of you know any of Lucas' friends, right?"

"Oooh!" Darby smiled widely, "I've always dreamed of having a steamy lust filled romance with one of the groomsmen like in those erotic novels!"

"Girl, count me in on that action." Yindra high fived Darby, "I need a serious one-night stand to take my mind off of that crappy breakup."

"You both are going to regret it~" Sarah singsonged, shooting them down with a sweet smile.

"Not if they're hot as fuck." Darby argued, "What about you, Maya? It's tradition for the maid of honour to hookup with the best man, you know?"

"That's not a tradition at all." She deadpanned.

If anything, the groom hooking up with the maid of honour was the pattern Maya had seen with some of the couples she'd worked with.

"It's too bad Lucas is the one getting married though…" Darby said, fanning herself playfully, "Because if he was one of the groomsmen, I'd be all over him."

"I'm sure we'd _all_ be all over him." Sarah cracked a smile, laughing. "God, he is so sexy it's not even funny."

"How have you guys seen him before?" Maya frowned. "I've never seen him."

"We already met him. Darby and I have been here since Riley first told us we were bridesmaids." Sarah explained.

"And also because we asked Riley to show us pictures when she started dating him." Yindra rose a brow. "And you generally don't. You probably didn't even remember that she had a boyfriend in the first place."

"I… I remembered." Maya lied indignantly.

"Mmhmm." Yindra sassed. "Sure you did."

"Well, I've never seen him either." Jade said, "What does he look like?"

"He's a Texan _hunk_. Tall, tanned, in shape. Not my type, but definitely a hottie." Smackle stated.

They all stared at her in surprise.

"What?" Smackle said, taking a sip of her water, "Am I not allowed to think a specimen of the opposite sex is attractive?"

"And he's just like so sweet and gentle and polite and sensitive and friendly." Darby gushed. "He really is Mr. Perfect."

"He's totally not what you would expect because of how he looks. I thought he would be arrogant, but he was super nice." Sarah said, "He was even polite enough not to comment on Darby's _obvious_ drooling."

"You know what I don't get?" Yindra said with a laugh, "I don't understand how Riley is capable of waiting until they're married. I wouldn't be able to."

Maya frowned. "Riley and Lucas haven't had sex?"

"Oh no. They're not really that kind of couple. They're the cute kind that sits on a couch holding hands and strolling through the park to watch birds on the trees. A summer rain kind of couple." Sarah explained. "Besides, Riley said they both decided to wait until they're married."

That was news to her. Riley hadn't told Maya that. But then again, she figured Riley probably didn't because Maya would have gotten suspicious.

Which she was now.

"How old is Lucas?" Maya asked suspiciously.

"I think he's twenty seven. Maybe twenty eight." Yindra shrugged.

"So you're telling me that this twenty seven or twenty eight year old guy, doesn't want to have sex at all with his cute fiancée even after dating for three months." She deadpanned, eyes narrowed.

So what she knew so far was that Lucas was basically controlling the wedding, didn't think to propose in a more substantial way, wasn't horny for Riley, but seemed to be attracted to another woman. He sounded like a real idiot and kind of a jackass, regardless of how nice the others were saying he was. And quite frankly, Maya was starting to get bad vibes about this wedding, even worse than the ones she'd gotten when Riley first had announced her engagement.

"I don't know." Darby grinned. "But like Yin said, I would pass the gravy with him in less than a millisecond."

"I did not say those words." Yindra said, frowning. "And you're nasty."

"What colour are his eyes?" Jade asked, interrupting that conversation before it got even more disgusting.

Sarah sighed dreamily. "Oh, he's got these beautiful green eyes."

Maya's head lifted and her brows furrowed at that. Smackle said he was tall and tanned, attractive, and different from how one would expect. Add green eyes to that mix and only one image was popping into Maya's head.

But it couldn't be right… It had to be a coincidence.

"…Green eyes?" Maya asked lowly.

"Yeah. They're like this gorgeous light green or like soft green. I don't know how to describe it."

"Sea foam green, maybe?" Maya asked, not realizing she was holding her breath.

"Yeah! That's a perfect colour!"

Maya's eyes narrowed, the back of her neck prickling in unease.

"And they're all gentle and warm, but also super intense and when he smiles or laughs, you can't help but swoon. Riley's a lucky ass bitch." Darby laughed.

The other girls laughed too.

"Right…" Maya muttered, chewing on her thumbnail. "Do any of you have a picture of him with you?"

"No. But aren't you going to dinner with Riley tonight?" Yindra asked, "You'll see him then."

Maya nodded, tuning out the conversation afterwards.

It was oddly suspicious. But it couldn't be him, right? Huckleberry hadn't been wearing a ring. So Lucas couldn't be Huckleberry. He would have been wearing a ring.

…Right?

It had to be a coincidence.

But she had a bad feeling about this.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: PLEASE READ THIS: Hey guys! Isazu pointed out to me that it's not a common thing for guys to wear engagement rings, and I didn't know that lol. So if you think it's a weird concern, just try to ignore that please :) I always assumed that was the norm ahahaha!  
**

 **Thank you for the sweet reviews you guys! I'm glad you are getting excited! And thanks for the well wishes on my exam! I think I did well enough LOL :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

 **UPDATE 09.19.15: REVISED OFFICIALLY. SORRY ABOUT THE TYPOS AND MISTAKES AND GRAMMATICAL ERRORS LOL. I was appalled at my carelessness!**

* * *

Maya tugged down her skirt as she climbed out of the rental car, smoothing it down so that it wasn't riding up her thighs and so the valet couldn't get an accidental glimpse of the fact that she'd chosen to go commando that evening. The last thing she needed was to accidentally flash someone.

To say she wasn't nervous would be a lie. Maybe she wasn't chewing her fingernails, but she was definitely feeling somewhat anxious over this dinner to discuss some semantics of the wedding as well as setting the date. Maya had been on pins and needles all afternoon, feeling some type of trepidation, so she knew why _she_ was all stiff, but that didn't explain Missy's current plight.

Missy was walking too briskly, and she seemed even more uptight than usual ever since Maya picked her up at her hotel.

"Missy. What's up with you?" Maya asked as they clicked their way down the little pathway leading to the front doors of the quaint Italian restaurant.

"Nothing." She said sharply.

"Really? No berating me for making us late to dinner?"

"What? We're late?" Missy asked, checking her watch distractedly. "Well… We're only thirteen minutes late. It doesn't matter."

And Maya knew she wasn't okay. The Missy she knew got cross with her for her lack of punctuality and being late to a semi-professional dinner was one of the top reasons on Missy's list to receive a 'the importance of punctuality' lecture. For her to say it didn't matter meant something was up.

Maya stopped walking, reaching out and taking hold of Missy's arm and stopping her too. Missy turned to her with an exasperated sigh, her expression defeated and upset.

"Missy Bradford." Maya said seriously. "You are not okay. I can read you like a book. Tell me what's going on."

She rolled her eyes. "Well Maya, I'm sure you'll be thrilled to hear that John cheated on me with some skank he found at a bar. I haven't even been gone a week! So we're over."

Maya frowned. "Missy…"

"Yeah, I know. That's what I get for falling in love, right?"

Maya wanted to console her. She wanted to say the right words, she really did, but most of her internal thoughts were actually gloating with "I told you so's", as terrible as it sounded. She felt bad because Missy didn't deserve to get cheated on. She was a great person.

But Maya couldn't help but wonder if Missy truly did love John, because if she did and was as invested in the relationship as she made it seem, wouldn't she have been in tears on her couch right now? Even her professionalism wouldn't have made her come to this dinner.

Maya kept her mouth shut, instead rubbing Missy's back soothingly.

"Want to get wasted tonight? We can… talk?"

"I'm fine, Maya. Don't worry about talking. I know you'll use it as an excuse to rant about love not existing, and I don't want to hear it." Missy said with a small smile, "But yes… let's get piss ass drunk tonight."

Maya snorted. "Then we shall."

She chuckled and they continued on their way inside the restaurant.

"So." Missy said, changing the subject. "Ready to meet Riley's beau, the ever elusive Lucas Friar?"

"Right… elusive." Maya said with narrowed eyes as they walked inside and told the host their party name.

"Maya?" Missy eyed her in confusion as the host began to take them to the table.

"Quick question: what if I _already_ met him?"

"What do you—"

"Maya, Missy! Over here!" Riley's voice called out as they approached a table.

They both turned their gazes towards Riley at the table.

She was standing beside a tall man.

A tall hunk of a man with gorgeous sea-foam green eyes and a face that you'd just want to lick.

A tall hunk of a man with gorgeous sea-foam green eyes and a face that you'd just want to lick whose face was looking pretty damn shell shocked.

"Holy shit." Missy breathed. "That's…"

Holy shit indeed.

"As I thought." Maya growled.

She walked over, knowing full well that her facial expression must have been looking pretty dark and stormy if Riley's slight confusion was any indication. And _this_ guy. Oh he _knew_ why she was looking pissed. She could read it all over his face.

"Lucas, this is my best friend and our wedding planner, Maya Hart. And this is Missy Bradford, her assistant." Riley introduced them, gesturing to each. "And Missy and Maya, this is—"

"Your mysterious fiancé Lucas." Maya said with a sneer, "Of course."

Lucas had a look of recognition on his face, like he'd just connected the dots.

"Right… the best friend from that picture in your apartment." He reached out his hand to shake hers. "Nice to finally meet you. Riley's said a lot about you."

Maya's tight smile grew sardonic to the point that she was sure she was probably looking pretty scary. She reached out and clasped his hand, shaking it roughly and squeezing it a little more tightly than necessary. She took pride in his slight wince as she let go.

"You know, it really _is_ nice to finally meet the ever elusive Lucas Friar, Riley's _fiancé_." Maya said deliberately slowly, her gaze trained on Lucas', "And that's such a nice _engagement ring_ , which, huh… is _on_ your finger. Like it should be. _Always_."

Riley was looking pretty confused by Maya's nasty behaviour towards him, Lucas' expression was a mixture between alarm and apprehension, and Missy's jaw was dropped, staring between the two of them with wide eyes. Maya could literally see the 'holy shits' running through her mind. And Maya didn't blame her. This was the most holy shit of holy shits that could ever happen.

"Um... yeah." Lucas recovered first, turning away from Maya and her scowl, and smiled at Missy, "Well it's nice to meet you too, Missy."

Missy nodded, still looking a little slackjawed as she shook his hand.

"Well, let's sit down!" Riley giggled. "There's no reason to stand the whole time."

As they made their way to their respective seats, Maya never took her eyes off Lucas, her scathing glare fully intact and disgusted curled lip set in place.

"So, how are you enjoying Austin this week?" Lucas asked politely, making conversation despite the fact that he looked uneasy with Maya's dirty look cast in his direction.

Maya chuckled darkly.

"Oh, it was really nice until I met some mysterious guy who doesn't seem to understand the concept of loyalty. He's scum of the earth and if he thinks for a second I'm going to let his transgressions slide, he's got another think coming. Because no one I care about will get hurt by someone they love."

Maya saw him bristle, the expression in his eyes still shocked. She could just see his thoughts were racing, no doubt still trying to come to terms with the whole ridiculous outcome of this thing.

"Are you talking about that guy you met Maya?" Riley asked, perusing the menu in front of her. "What happened?"

"Like I said, Riley. He's scum of the earth." Maya scoffed in disgust.

He probably hadn't even expected to see her again which made her even more irate.

Riley looked up in confusion. "But Maya. You never gave him a chance."

"Oh I _almost_ did. But I told you there would be something off with him. Looks like I was right. I was right to have my reservations about him." Maya crossed her arms in front of her chest, raising a brow. "And you know what? I think you should have your reservations too. I also think you should rethink a couple things. Like your marriage for one."

"Maya you're not going to give me that thirty minute 'Love doesn't exist' lecture again right?" Riley leaned over to Lucas with an amused smile, "Maya really doesn't think love exists. But I wanted to show her it does so I was hoping she could go out with someone she met here who she could have liked! In the end she never got his name though, and now she's saying it's over, and I'm so disappointed. If only there was a way for Maya to meet him again so they can fall in love!"

"I see…" Lucas said somewhat awkwardly, looking away from Maya with something of a grimace.

"Love _doesn't_ exist, Riley." Maya asserted, still piercing Lucas with her glare. "Especially with dishonest assholes."

"You really need to date more, Maya. You'd see that not all guys are like that. Take Lucas for example." Riley smiled, kissing his cheek. "Lucas is sweet and considerate and honest and loyal."

"Oh no. Trust me." Maya's eyes narrowed. "They're _all_ dishonest."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: I have another exam on Friday, so updates for this story in particular will be a little more spaced out in the next couple of days than they have been recently just so I can have time to study as well x3 I can definitely do daily updates on the weekends, but for the weekdays, it's probably going to be every 2 to 3 days or so?  
**

 **Thank you for the lovely reviews! I appreciate them and I'm glad this story is enjoyable for you! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Dinner had been a tense affair.

Maya had preferred to keep silent, stewing in her own irritation and keeping her rage to herself, though she doubted that would be possible with the object of her ire being there. She had basically left Missy to handle any socializing, but since part of Missy was still shocked and the other part was still reeling from her breakup and the _other_ part was upset, she didn't have much to contribute. So Riley had filled all the conversations with babbling about her doctorate courses and how in addition to research, she might look into a position at NASA after she retired from teaching. And also how she had decided to teach a summer lecture as well to give students the opportunity to make up bad marks in a previous semester or get their GPAs up with an easier summer course.

But Maya had tuned her out for the most part.

All her thoughts had pretty much been centered around one thing:

This asshole was going to pay.

Maya pulled out her notepad, flipping open a page as Riley tucked into her after dinner tradition of a piece of cheesecake.

"Okay." Maya said, starting the discussion and the reason why they'd gone to dinner in the first place. "So I need to start getting these invites out to your guest list and start letting the wedding party know what their schedules are to figure everything out. So what date did you have in mind?"

"We were thinking August 10th." Lucas said. "It's a little bit before Riley begins first semester so even with the preparations for the wedding, she'll still have some time to revise her lesson plan and prepare."

"So expect a scalding wedding then. Your attendees are going to be sweating out their clothes and fanning themselves, uncomfortable with the long procession. Not to mention Riley's makeup will be ruined by the middle of the event. And on top of that, the bridesmaids and groomsmen will be suffering." Maya gave him a blank look. "Yeah… _Great idea_."

Lucas frowned slightly, a little put off by Maya's unconcealed distaste.

"Having researched the summer weather trends and patterns here for the past fifty years," Maya continued, "I think it would be better if you pushed it a little up. Maybe mid-July or so when it's a little cooler than August. I think July 15th would be good."

Lucas glanced at Riley and she shrugged, nodding.

"That works for me." Riley smiled. "As long as it's in the summer."

"Good." Maya continued. "So next up, the theme. What did you have in mind for colours?"

"Well, Lucas has always been fond of blue." Riley said, "So I guess blue and something else?"

"You know what I think?" Maya's eyes narrowed. "I think he gets everything he wants. And _does_ whatever he wants. He chooses the venue, you have to move in with him, you're taking his name. And quite frankly, he doesn't deserve it. Why can't it be your colours, Riley?"

Missy nudged Maya subtly with her foot under the table, frowning at Maya and shaking her head for Maya to stop. Maya ignored her concerns.

Riley blinked in confusion at Maya's behaviour. "I-I don't mind blue…?"

"I thought purple was your favourite."

"It is, but—"

"Great, then it's settled. We'll do purple as the main colour." Maya proclaimed, scribbling in the notepad.

Lucas frowned. "Okay, wait—"

"No. Shut up." Maya shot him a sharp, disgusted glare, and his brows rose in incredulous surprise. Then she turned back to Riley. "Anyway, I got a bit of inspiration yesterday when I saw a peacock. So I was thinking about making the theme a bit peacocky. Kind of a royal purple with wisps of green. With all these peacocks roaming around the city, I think it would be kind of cute. Plus it's kind of similar to the colours of Ariel's shell bra and tail and you've always loved The Little Mermaid. I think having a bit of Disney mixed into your wedding might be nice."

"Okay, I _really_ love that idea and I think it's cute, Maya, but Lucas and I both have to agree on it."

"Oh don't worry about it. Lucas agrees." Maya said lowly, raising a brow threateningly as she stared at him. "Don't you?"

Lucas' eyes narrowed but he didn't say a word.

Being difficult was he?

"And I don't think he's in any position to be disagreeing with anything you want." Maya reminded him through grit teeth. "You know, since he got some stupid 'harmless crush' on another woman."

"Maya…" Riley said with a sigh, "I told you it's not that bad."

Missy sighed dejectedly, not even bothering to stop Maya's little tirade. She rested her chin on her palm, calmly watching the brewing tension between the two.

Lucas' jaw clenched. "You're being petty."

"No. I'm being cordial. _This_ is petty."

And then Maya stomped her heel onto his foot, taking pride in his grunt of pain. He jolted in his seat, his leg banging against the bottom of the table with a clatter.

"Okay, what the hell is your problem?" Lucas growled, his eyes flashing in irritation and slight pain.

Maya turned her lethal glare on him, hoping he could see that she despised him with every ounce of her being.

"I don't have a problem. I just don't think the groom should be making any decisions in this, since he clearly can't _make up his mind_."

"What's going on with all this fighting? Is this about the colours?" Riley asked, staring at the two of them in concern, "The colours are fine Maya. If you really think we should do purple, then okay."

"Yeah. _The colours_." Missy snorted, taking a sip of her water. "Don't worry about it Riley. It'll work itself out."

"But Maya looks mad. And so does Lucas."

"It's nothing, Riley." Lucas said, smiling reassuringly.

"Okay… Well Maya, I had an idea to go with the theme. Since it's on a ranch," Riley said at length, warily eyeing them both as they glared daggers at each other. "I was thinking it could be cute for all the bridesmaids to wear cowboy boots."

And Maya's scowl dropped immediately, an incredulous expression taking its place at her words.

"What? Cowboy boots? That is so tacky."

"I think it could be adorable." Riley giggled. "And then the groomsmen can have cowboy hats on!"

"Riley, what the fuck." Maya said indignantly, cringing at the thought of having to wear a pair of cowboy boots. Not to mention, not wearing heels would make her unbelievably short compared to the other bridesmaids. "That would just look all kinds of strange."

"I don't know. I kind of like that idea." Lucas said a little darkly, his eyes narrowed. Maya rose a brow at his change in demeanor. "And it is _our_ wedding Riley. _We_ should be allowed to choose what we want, right?"

Oh so he wanted to antagonize her now?

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that you cared about what Riley wanted seeing as how you didn't even think to ask her what she saw in her dream wedding."

Lucas frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Maya, don't." Riley said meekly, her eyes pleading for Maya not to say anything.

Despite her desire to tell him off for not letting Riley experience the wedding of her dreams, Maya stopped herself from revealing Riley's fantasy.

"I care about what Riley wants." Lucas said through grit teeth. "Because I care about her."

"Do you? So flirting with another woman was just your way of showing how much you care about Riley then."

"Look, I don't know what you're getting at exactly, but you're mistaken okay. So I was a little friendly. But I wasn't trying to let anything happen." He growled.

"Friendly to the point where you were leading her on? And fyi, Sundance, you were _flirting_ with her."

"I amended my mistake! You need to calm down."

"I need to calm down. _I_ need to calm down?! Oh hell no, Mr. I Can't Keep It In My Damn Pants! _You_ need to calm down! Especially your raging hormones because I cannot believe you would ever let yourself go that badly that you got attracted to someone who isn't Riley!" Maya shot out of her chair, pointing a threatening finger at him. "Subconscious physical attraction to another woman my ass! You're engaged! Why are you looking at anybody else?! You should beg Riley for forgiveness, because you are so far out of line the line fucking disappeared!"

By that point, everyone in their general area at the restaurant was staring at their table in shock. Riley was giving Maya a disappointed look, her puppy dog brown eyes looking extra downtrodden and upset. Missy was awkwardly averting her gaze completely, pretending to text on her phone. And Lucas was glowering at Maya, looking pissed off, though he didn't say a word in response.

"I'm going to the bathroom Riley. And then Missy and I are leaving to get a damn drink to forget this shitfest. I suggest we finish this up some other day because I don't think I can be in the same room as this fuckhead Huckleberry of a fiancé you have any longer."

"Feeling's mutual, _Chihuahua_." He snapped, glaring up at her.

A sharp pang of irritation traveled down her back and Maya's hands curled into tight fists.

If Maya was still that wild, rebellious, crazy girl she had been in high school, she would have climbed on the table, lunged at him and choked him until he cried uncle. Maybe broken a plate on his head. And yes, her mind was very strongly projecting that image and telling her to go for it.

But she was not in high school. And she could be better than this.

With a roll of her eyes and a scoff, she left the table to head to the bathroom, ignoring the looks she was getting from people around the restaurant. She didn't care what those people thought about her. She was only thinking one thing.

Lucas Friar was a no good little shitmonger and even if Riley still wanted to marry him despite his momentary lapse of good judgement, Maya would _never_ approve.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Ahahahahahaha xD  
**

 **Thank you for the reviews guys! I love your reactions to this story and chapters and your reviews always make me laugh! Thank you for that! It's a great stress relief from school! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Riley's fiancé. He was Riley's _fiancé_.

Maya vigorously washed her hands, still feeling that anger boiling under her skin. He was Riley's fiancé, and he knew the whole time. She just wanted to destroy Lucas for his behaviour. She wanted to kick his ass so bad.

"That damn Huckleberry… How could I be so stupid to think…" Maya muttered under her breath, shaking her head. "No. It'll never happen again. Never."

The lady washing her hands in the basin next to her glanced at her in confusion, but Maya ignored her.

Maya untied her drooping ponytail to fix it and then glanced at herself in the mirror as her curtain of blonde wavy hair tumbled around her face. She stared at her reflection, suddenly reminded of what Lucas had said to her about the way she looked with her hair down. Gritting her teeth in irritation, Maya gathered her hair and piled it up on her head in a bun, tying it up tighter than ever. She splashed water on her face, trying to clear her mind a little bit with the refreshing cold water from the tap.

She just felt stupid. _So_ stupid. Like she was used or something.

And she _hated_ that feeling.

But most of all Maya hated that she had actually believed something might come out of her interactions with Lucas. She had deluded herself into believing that maybe she was interested in him when she knew better. Why oh why had she even dared to let herself be interested? She was a cynic for a reason and stupidly, she'd shed her beliefs just because Lucas had acted concerned and nice and flirted a bit and acted interested in what she had to say.

It was ridiculous.

Maya had brought this on herself by being too open. She should have just ignored him completely. She shouldn't have let herself think like the prepubescent hopeful tween girl she used to be. She was so angry at herself.

"I'm such a damn idiot."

The same lady, drying her hands near the dispenser, turned and looked at Maya, her nose scrunched up like she thought Maya was crazy.

"Oh get off your high horse." Maya rolled her eyes. "Like you've never seen someone talking to themselves before."

The lady shrugged nonchalantly and left the bathroom.

Maya went back to staring at herself in the mirror, scowling and lips a bit pursed in annoyance. Ten years of carefully constructed walls of total disinterest around her heart and she'd just dropped them because of some slightly dorky, gorgeous eyed guy.

That was the last time she would ever let her guard down.

"Okay Maya. Calm down." She slapped her cheeks until a bit of colour painted them from the assault. "I know you're pissed, but you can get through this without punching someone in the face. Get it together. It's okay. Leave with Missy. Go get your drink. And just forget about anything having to do with Lucas. That's all you have to do."

And as long as she didn't see Lucas for the next few days, she'd be able to keep her rage in check for the most part until she fixed herself.

Maya wiped her hands and the excess water on her face with napkins and pushed out of the bathroom door, fully intending to march to the dining area, grab her stuff and leave.

Except that when she walked out of the bathroom, Lucas was leaning against the wall across the door, a brow raised and his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Really? Standing outside of the bathroom door? Creep much?" Maya growled, turning to leave without saying another word to him. She knew if she said anything else, this confrontation would probably end in a physical altercation.

But Lucas straightened and took a few easy steps around her, standing in front of her and blocking her from leaving the corridor.

"Get out of my way." Maya said calmly, "Or I'm going to stomp on your foot again and this time, I'll break your toes."

"Look, what is your problem? Why are you so mad at me?"

Maya's eyes narrowed as she felt her anger spike again. Dammit. Just when she'd gotten her mood in check.

"Because you were _flirting_ with me and you tried to get my name even after you figured out you had a dumb little crush! And you _knew_ you were about to marry Riley!"

"I wasn't really trying to flirt with you." He tried to explain.

"Yes you were! And you know you were. You tried to make me the other woman! I'm the fucking other woman you supposedly were attracted to! Do you not understand how fucked up that is?! Riley's my best friend, you piece of shit!" Maya scoffed incredulously, throwing her up in exasperation. "What would you have even done if we met again after the park incident? Kept trying to get my name? Would you have tried to get to know me?"

"I wouldn't have. Or at least I don't think I would have." Lucas sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I swear I wasn't trying to do anything like that. Fuck… I know I flirted, but it was an accident. I didn't even realize… And I didn't know you were…"

A man walked by them on his way to the bathroom, staring at them weirdly for arguing there.

"Just because it was an accident doesn't make it any less bad." Maya hissed. "Riley loves you. And I'm the maid of honour and apparently you have a crush on me. That's not okay."

"Look that's all it was though. It was an accident, okay? I got caught up in the moment, but it didn't mean anything." Lucas rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I guess I just had temporary wedding jitters. Or cold feet. I don't know. But I'm not attracted to you anymore now that I know who you are. Chill out."

Maya had seen that happen to other grooms. It wasn't uncommon. But she'd also seen some of those other grooms cheat on their brides or leave them altogether. And she was still pissed off at him for leading her on.

"Look, if I can make it better, I will." Lucas said, "I'll tell Riley about it all. I'll tell her about the flirting, and I'll tell her it was you that I was briefly attracted to."

Maya's eyes narrowed. "Don't. Don't tell her anything."

"What? Why not?"

"You know how insecure Riley gets. Especially when it pertains to you. So don't give her a reason to question her perfect marriage, okay? She deserves to enjoy her wedding and have the wedding of her dreams. I don't want her to spend her entire time suspicious and worried about you and me. Especially since we have to work on this wedding together. We won't tell her about any of this stupid whatever it was because it _doesn't exist_ , got that?" Maya growled. "It _never_ existed and as far as you're concerned, this girl you met three times? She moved away and you never saw her again, yeah? Shuck it from your mind. And don't you ever give Riley a reason to doubt her upcoming marriage."

"Okay." He frowned.

"If you ever try this bullshit with anyone else again, I'm kicking your ass. And one more thing," she said with a snarl, "Riley may love and trust you wholeheartedly and unconditionally, but I _don't_ trust you and I'll _never_ trust you, and I was right. Riley _is_ too good for someone like you."

She stormed past him, not even able to feel satisfaction at his speechlessness and shocked face because she was so pissed. She headed straight to the table, snatching up her purse when she got there. Riley watched her in confusion while Missy gauged Maya's mood from her expression, ultimately grimacing when she realized there was proverbial steam coming out of Maya's ears.

"Maya, what's going on with you?" Riley asked tentatively.

"Riley, I'm sorry about earlier. I let my anger get the best of me, and I know I shouldn't have done that to you. I made things harder for you, and you don't deserve that. I just… I can't be here right now."

"Is this about the guy you met?" Riley asked in concern.

Maya glanced up at Lucas as he approached the table, her jaw clenching in annoyance.

"Oh yeah. It's definitely about him…" Maya remarked with a tight smile, "But don't worry. It's nothing a little alcohol can't fix. But I'll definitely be home late, so don't wait up."

"I understand. When you're ready to talk about it, I'll listen." Riley said with a sigh as Lucas took his seat.

Maya's gaze shifted to him, her eyes narrowing the slightest bit. "What's there to talk about? I deluded myself into thinking something could come out of it when I should have stuck to my beliefs."

"Maya…" Riley said dejectedly, "It's just one guy."

"If only it were that simple." Maya shook her head in disdain. "See you tomorrow, Riley."

She turned and left with one last glare aimed at Lucas, and Missy bid them farewell before rushing off after Maya.

"For the record," Missy said, giving Maya a sympathetic smile, "You handled this mess way better than I expected. I thought Lucas was going to end up with wine splashed in his face."

Maya snorted though her hands were still clenched into tight fists.

Fuck it all.

She was going to get absolutely trashed to forget this disaster of an encounter.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Aaaaaand we continue :) Literally should be studying, but you know me. I don't study. I just write ahahaha xD (until two hours before the exam and then I cram my stupid butt off. SOMEONE MOTIVATE ME TO STUDY)  
**

 **I hope you all are having as much fun reading this story as I am writing it! I thank you for the reviews and being so awesome in general and just making me smile like a doofy idiot! You guys are the reason why I can come back from work and not want to break stuff! I luuuuuurvs you! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

 **UPDATE 09.26.15: Thank you Annette for pointing out that information about 6th Street! I've changed the circumstances in this chapter to better match the information you relayed to me! Let me know if I have any other discrepancies in any information about Austin :) I don't want to write accidental falsities!**

* * *

Maya marched into the karaoke place with a look of determination on her face, Missy in tow, staring at the festive but tasteful décor of the place. The lights had been dimmed and it was relatively empty, save for an old man singing some folk song in another language that neither Maya nor Missy recognized.

Maya would have preferred to go to a less classy place to get wasted—a seedy joint or what have you—and the valet she'd asked recommended going to 6th Street. But it wasn't particularly close to where they were, and she and Missy hadn't wanted to drive far so he'd recommended this place instead. The karaoke bar was only two blocks away from the Italian restaurant, so they had driven here to get drunk.

When they approached the bar, Maya slapped her hand on the table, looking the bartender in the eye and demanding his attention before he could even get out a greeting or a word.

"I want to open a tab. And I want a tall glass of rum, whatever kind is your highest proof. No, not rum and coke. Straight rum. Yes, you heard me right. A tall glass of straight rum. Yes, I am aware how much alcohol that is. Yes, I am aware how small I am. And no, I don't care. Yes, I am trying to get drunk off my ass. Yes, I am of drinking age and don't you dare card me because I will jump over this counter and kick your ass to kingdom come. Yes, I am in a very bad mood. And yes, I will tip you well if you do what I say. So just give me the damn drink and all will be well."

The bartender, a sinewy man with a charming smile, was grinning widely.

"A beautiful woman who drinks her own weight in hard liquor?" He slid coasters in front of them. "I think I'm in love."

Missy grimaced. "Don't say the L word. She'll go off on a long rant you don't want to hear about love not existing and your ears will get chewed out. And sorry about her attitude. This guy she had a little thing with is getting married. To her best friend."

"Ouch. That's brutal. I understand the rum thing now." He turned and grabbed a clean glass from the wall. "And for you?"

"Whisky on the rocks?" Missy sighed, slumping in the stool next to the stewing Maya. "I kind of need to get drunk too."

"What happened to you, sugar?"

"Ex cheated on me."

"It's been a rough night for you both, huh?"

"Rough is an understatement…" Maya grumbled under her breath.

"You know what?" the bartender said, a sympathetic smile on his face, "Don't worry about paying for anything tonight. It's on me. Drinks on the house for…"

"Missy. And Miss Kick Your Ass over here is Maya."

"I'm Zay." He did an extravagant bow, grinning up at them both when they cracked a small smile. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance Missy and Maya."

"The pleasure is ours." Missy responded, "But won't the manager get mad if he finds out you're giving away free drinks?"

Zay chuckled, filling up the tall glass with the rum before setting it on the coaster in front of Maya. "Why would he? He's the one who decided to give them away."

It took them a second to figure out what he meant.

"Wait, you're the manager?"

"Yeah." He laughed out loud, setting Missy's drink in front of her as well. "This place _is_ called Zay's, you know?"

They hadn't paid attention at all when they walked in. Maya suspected it was because both of them had been dead set on only one thing: getting a drink in their system as fast as possible.

"Wow…" Maya frowned slightly, but took a sip of her drink. "Well. Thanks."

"Hey, it's no skin off my back." He leaned against the counter, an intrigued twinkle in his warm brown eyes, "So tell me more about this love doesn't exist thing. I like it."

"What's there to tell you about? It's a contrived notion. A false state of assumption and when the deception is discovered, the image shatters away like weak glass. And people leave each other. Love my ass. They make these ridiculous claims and vows of love to each other and then next thing you know, they've divorced and given up. There was never any love between them because it doesn't exist." Maya rose a brow. "You don't believe in love either?"

"Don't believe in it? I invented the damn book on love not existing." Zay snorted. "The root of love is lust. If two people have more sexual chemistry with each other than another two people, then they will end up together, regardless of whether someone is in a relationship and "loves" someone else. I don't believe in love because it's ridiculous. Everyone is just looking for their next quick screw. Some people want a long term screw with the same person. Some people want multiple screws with multiple people. But then human beings delude themselves into thinking that they are in love just because they lust after a certain person. If one doesn't lust in another, then there is no way that they will ever be compatible. But I do agree. There's no such thing as love."

"Oh no." Missy groaned, sipping her whisky. "I'm surrounded by love conspiracy theorists…"

"I like you already, Zay." Maya said, drinking some more of her rum and loving the burn in her chest. It was hitting the spot just right. "I think we can be good friends."

"You sure you're not just saying that because you want to use me for more free drinks in the future, sugar?"

"You caught me." she drawled.

"Oddly, I'm okay with that." Zay laughed. "Hey, for the record, you seem pretty cool. This guy is missing out on one badass cynical chick who drinks more than her weight and curses at you and threatens to kick your ass."

Maya snorted, rolling her eyes. "So why are you against relationships? Assuming you are."

"There are too many women in this world to be tied down to just one."

"You sound like my friend Farkle."

"Farkle? Who would do that to him?"

"I don't even know…"

"Yeah, anyway. I don't need to be tied down right now. I'm at my prime. I should be enjoying life. I just don't understand people who want to get married so young so quickly when they've barely tried out life. My best friend is also getting married, and he's throwing his life away when he could have so much more fun."

"Exactly!" Maya exclaimed, "See, Missy? Zay gets it."

Missy rolled her eyes, shaking her head in exasperation.

"I thought one person ranting about love and being against relationships was bad… Now there are two of you." she muttered under her breath.

"This calls for a shot in celebration!" Zay said, yanking out three shot glasses, "Vodka! Like the Russians do it!"

"Here, here!" Maya cheered.

"I'll take a bit of that action."

Zay filled the shots and handed the other two to Maya and Missy before lifting his own high above his head.

"To my new friends Missy and Maya!" Zay proclaimed, "That they may never end up in a relationship with anyone."

"No." Missy said, "Try again. I don't accept that toast."

"Fine." Zay laughed. "To my new friends Missy and Maya! That these men who fucked with them will feel the pain of a thousand of Maya's ass kickings!"

They clinked their glasses together before knocking back their shots.

Maya slammed her shot glass on the table with a hearty sigh, already feeling a little better.

This evening was starting to pick up quite nicely.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: I kind of wrote this in twenty minutes, but it will be revised later. Hi Loulou! Farkle's arrival is still a secret ;P (And that actually goes for all other characters too lol) And finally, thank you Annette for informing me of the infamy of 6th Street! I fixed the last chapter to better reflect what you told me! Let me know if there are any other discrepancies!  
**

 **Thank you for all the sweet reviews guys! You're all so nice and I really appreciate the well wishes for my exam and the encouragement! I'm happy to say that I've gotten it out of the way and I can finally relax a bit more! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

 _"Hey this is Riley! Sorry I can't get to the phone right now! I'll call you back as soon as I can!"_

Maya ended the call and slid her phone in her purse, slumping and setting her chin on the bar counter.

"No good…" Maya slurred, chuckling to herself. "She's 'sleep…"

"Your friend didn't answer?" Zay responded, wiping down another rinsed glass. "Shit, maybe Missy should have taken you with her…"

After a long night of listening to the old man sing to his heart's content and hearty drinks over laughter and camaraderie, the bar was now empty. Missy had left a few hours before, hailing a cab back to her hotel before she got too drunk to move. Maya, of course, had decided to stay and get even more piss ass drunk. Zay had wanted Maya to take a cab too, but she was so completely wasted that he'd changed his mind, scared that she wouldn't even be able to make it inside the apartment on her own.

"I can drive, Zay…" Maya said loopily, gripping the table to stop the spinning.

"Absolutely not, sugar. You're not thinking straight, and you can barely _sit up_ straight." Zay said, with a snort. "You're not getting into that car. You can just pick it up later. I won't have it towed."

He had a point. As it was, Maya felt like she was ten seconds from tipping over and falling off her stool.

"Zay, we should hook up… I'm bored as hell. You look like a good target. Can you screw the crap out of me?"

He laughed out loud.

"You're shitting me right now."

"I haven't been properly boned since December…"

"Damn! That is one long dry spell." He gave her a sympathetic look. "You're hella drunk, so no thanks. Don't feel like getting vomited on. Plus, we're not compatible as hook up friends."

"I just need to be screwed to forget about him… Why the fuck am I still thinking about him…?" Maya groaned, annoyed that in the end, getting drunk had backfired and made it worse. Her mind wouldn't stay off of that particular topic anymore. "And how do you know we're not compatible as hook up friends?"

Where was Darby when she needed her to find them some guys?

"Instinct." Zay said. "You're cute Maya, but we're both dominants. It just would not work. And I have particular… _tastes_ that would probably freak you out."

"I guess you're right…" Maya said, leaning heavily against her arm, her vision spinning, "Plus there are friends for screwing. And there are friends for painting nails with."

"I'm the nail painting one?"

"Yeah."

He laughed. "I'd totally get a mani-pedi with you any day."

"Good, because I think I'll need to pamper myself, because I kind of feel like shit right now."

"Let's make it happen. Give me your phone."

Maya handed him her phone, and he took it, tapping on the screen before handing it back to her.

"I put my number in here, so feel free to call me any time you need a drink or need to talk or if you want to go have a spa day or something."

"Zay, where have you been all my life?"

"Probably hiding from your drunk ass." He teased, pulling his own phone out of his back pocket. "Anyway, I know how you can get home. I'm texting my friend. He lives close to here and can take you back home."

"Why can't you?" Maya whined.

"I've got to close up shop." Zay said, gently patting the top of her head when her forehead clunked onto the counter.

"What? Noooo. Booo. It's only 1:00 AM!"

"It's _5:00_ AM, Maya."

"So you're leaving a drunk woman in the care of an unknown friend? That's irresponsible."

"He's a good guy. Trustworthy. You'll be okay."

Maya groaned in annoyance, her arms splayed on the counter.

"That's what _he_ said too… That he was trustworthy." She muttered, sputtering in disgust when her hair got stuck in her mouth. Where did her hair tie go anyway? "And he turned out to be a lying git! They're all lying gits!"

"You've mentioned this guy a lot in the past few hours. Did he really have that much of an impact on you?" Zay rose a brow. "How long did you know this guy anyway? You didn't pick up on signs that he was engaged?"

"Two days…" Maya grumbled.

Zay stared at her in disbelief, trying to figure out if she was serious. When she didn't deny her statement, he started cracking up hard, slapping his hands on the counter.

"Maya, that's pathetic! Two days and you had an interest in him?!"

"You're pathetic!" she retaliated, grabbing the rag he'd left on the counter and tossing it at him.

Zay avoided it deftly, still laughing, and Maya flipped him off as best as she could with her fingers so uncoordinated. She stared at her hand in confusion, wondering if she'd just given him a peace sign instead, but ultimately stopped when thinking made her head hurt.

She was starting to feel kind of exhausted, that feeling of loopiness starting to settle and become a feeling of cozy fatigue washing over her. They stayed in silence for a moment, Maya watching as Zay continued his meticulous drying of each glass, going through his closing checklist to make sure everything was taken care of.

"You tired?" Zay asked, leaning against the back counter and watching her in amusement as he dried a glass.

"Mmmhmm…" she muttered, resting her cheek on her palm. "Tired…"

"Well, you'll get to sleep soon. He just pulled up outside."

"…good…" Maya yawned.

She really did just want to go to sleep and forget this day. And hopefully she'd wake up and forget completely about any of this stupid mess.

The door opened behind her, and Maya stretched like a cat, glad that she could finally leave.

"Zay, you need to stop asking me to take these drunk women home whenever they're stuck in your bar! I have work at seven, and I should not be up this early!"

And Maya froze mid-stretch, her eyes slowly widening. She _knew_ that deep, slight country Texan drawl. It was a bit gravelly and hoarse, as if pried prematurely out of sleep, but it was the same.

This was _not_ happening.

"You were going to wake up in about thirty minutes anyway." Zay said, "If it bothers you so much, why do you show up to help them?"

"Because you know I can't leave someone in need! This is the last time, okay? Stop doing this."

Oh yeah. Maya _definitely_ recognized the voice.

Her teeth grit as she slowly turned around and met the eyes of one tired looking…

Lucas Friar.

His face fell, his eyebrows lifting in surprise as he realized it was her.

 _Fuck_ this.

Maya whipped back around to face Zay, trying not to topple over when her vision swam from her motions.

"Zay, you _asshole_! You're friends with _Lucas_?"

Zay looked utterly bewildered and surprised all at once.

"Best friends actually. Our moms are partners in the same firm so we grew up together."

Maya frowned. Lillian's law firm? It was called Friar, Babineaux & Gardner. Maya had a bad feeling about this.

"What's your full name?" she asked Zay.

"Isaiah Babineaux."

The best man's contact information on the wedding party list said Isaiah Babineaux. Zay was the best man.

"You lied to me! You said your name was Zay! You're his best man?!" Maya wasn't sure if the words came out clearly, because her tongue felt really heavy, but she knew Zay got the gist of it.

"It is my name. Isaiah Babineaux. I go by Zay. Why are you getting so worked up?" Zay's brows furrowed. "And how do you know Lucas?"

Maya groaned, clunking her forehead on the table and wondering why she had to meet Lucas' best friend of all people. Zay was cool, but his best friend on the other hand? A real problem. And she had a feeling if she hung out with Zay, she would be running into Lucas a lot more.

When Maya didn't respond, Zay turned to Lucas. "You know Maya, Lucas?"

"Yeah… she's our wedding planner."

"So why does she hate you? How'd you meet her?"

"I uh…" Lucas hesitated, suddenly sounding pretty anxious. "I ran into her…"

There was silence for a few minutes, and Maya sat up slowly, glowering at Zay. He was frowning, looking like he was piecing something together.

"Wait no way…" Zay said, his eyes wide as his eyes went from Maya to Lucas, "So _Maya's_ the one you were telling me about! Holy crap! Maya's 'Blonde Beauty' who you were attracted to?!"

Zay started laughing really hard as he faced Maya.

"Then that means Lucas is the guy you were telling me about who–"

" _Anyway_!" Maya cut in quickly, feeling her cheeks start to rouge. She spun around, glaring at Lucas. "I'm not letting you drive me home!"

"Maya…" Lucas rolled his eyes. "Riley lives twenty minutes from here. And since I know where she lives, it just makes sense."

"No. I'd rather walk for an hour to get back than get in a car with you." Maya flipped Zay off. "Thanks for bringing back my bad mood by inviting this asshole to our party. You owe me free drinks for a month or I'm not talking to you again."

Zay snorted, shaking his head in amusement as he started wiping down his counter.

"Maya." Lucas said in exasperation. "Don't be like that. Riley would want you to get home safely."

She had every right to be any way she wanted, the asshole.

She ignored him, snatching up her purse and then unsteadily sliding off of her bar stool to start her long trek back to Riley's.

Except she forgot that she was wearing four inch pumps and that she could barely keep her body up in the first place.

With a yelp, she tripped on her own feet and almost took a nosedive tumble to the floor, if Lucas hadn't anticipated it and caught her arms before she face planted. Her gaze shot up to his in alarm, taken aback by his alluring, lingering scent of faded cologne. She pushed slightly away from him, fighting the blush that was trying to force its way onto her face.

"Just let me drop you off at Riley's." Lucas sounded fed up. "I promise I won't say a word to you. And hell, I'd actually prefer you didn't say a word to me either, so it works."

Zay stared at them with a frown.

"There won't be some news broadcast tomorrow about two people who strangled each other in a pickup truck, right?"

"No, but there might be one about a blonde woman who strangled a Huckleberry dumbass."

Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Let's just go so we don't have to spend any more time with each other than we need to."

Maya's eyes narrowed. "Fine."

"Fine." Lucas growled in response.

Zay snorted.

"Oh what lovely vibes in the air."


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Descriptions in this chapter were meh at best. Use your imagination. Apologies ahahaha xD I wrote this during a lecture so it's choppy :)  
**

 **Thank you for the reviews! I really appreciate them and it means a lot! You guys are so incredibly sweet with the things you say and it honestly makes me so happy that you guys are enjoying yourselves. Thank you so much! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Maya ground her teeth, her arms crossed in front of her chest as she slumped in the passenger seat, her fingers drumming on her arm in building annoyance.

She had been trying so hard to keep quiet so she didn't have to speak to Lucas, but with every minute that had passed and she was subjected— _forced_ —to listening to the stupid country music playing from his car's stereo, it grew harder for her to keep her temper in check.

Maya _hated_ country music with a passion. And that coupled with Lucas' stay-under-the-speed-limit-at-all-costs-even-though-it's-only-six-in-the-morning-and-barely-anyone-is-on-the-road driving was grating her nerves like nothing else. She was so close to snapping and going into a rage.

"Hey _Grandma_. Can you turn that drivel off?"

"I'm sorry, _Chihuahua_. Were you talking to me?"

Maya glowered at him, so tempted to just shut the damn music off herself. If she could see clearly, that is. As it stood, she couldn't really tell what was what, and she was sure if she started fumbling around with anything, Lucas would probably flip a shit.

"Can you turn off the country music, Huckleberry?" She said through clenched teeth, "It's giving me a headache."

"Actually, I don't think I want to." He said, his grip tightening minutely on the wheel, "You're not the only one who can be petty. Thanks for injuring my foot, by the way."

Maya snapped her glare to him. "That was the only time I was petty."

"You're joking, right?" He scoffed, eyes narrowed. "The entire time, you were petty, irritable, and rude."

"It was justifiable."

"It was _unprofessional_." Lucas countered, turning into the familiar street of Riley's complex. Maya could not have felt more relieved to see the apartment in the distance. "You shouldn't have made things harder for Riley and me, no matter how mad you were. I know we have our issues, but you could have kept them out of the meeting."

As soon as he parked in a free spot, Maya grabbed her purse and ripped open the passenger door, hopping out and holding onto it to stabilize herself when she almost toppled to the ground.

"The _last_ person I want to be lectured by is you, Mr. I Got Sexually Attracted To Someone Who Wasn't Riley."

"I was not sexually attracted to you!"

Maya ignored him and slammed the car door shut, unsteadily walking towards the stairs that led to Riley's floor. Why did she have to live on the second floor? Maya had no idea how she was going to get up the stairs when she was stumbling around and her eyes were seeing double.

God, she was so drunk…

She felt kind of sick…

The noise of a car door slamming shut sounded behind her and then she heard steps approach her as she reached the stairs. Maya glanced at Lucas, giving him a dirty look.

"Go home. I don't need to be walked up by you."

"You look like you're about to twist your ankle." Lucas said, a brow raised, "And I have to make sure you get safely inside."

"No, you don't."

Maya gripped the railing like her life depended on it, nearly leaning fully on it as she slowly dragged herself up the stairs, one at a time. Slow and steady. Careful to make sure she didn't trip or take too wide a step that would probably make her bend her ankle in a way it wasn't supposed to. Maya heard a snort behind her, and she twisted around, her eyes narrowed at Lucas, who looked entirely too amused.

"Something funny?"

"I think you should let me help you." Lucas said, looking like he was holding back a laugh.

"Piss off."

Lucas rolled his eyes, arms crossed in front of his chest as they continued their slow trek up the stairs. When they finally reached the landing, Maya was half tempted to turn around smugly to show she didn't need his help, but at this rate, she just wanted to get the hell away from him. The sooner, the better.

She held onto the wall, counting the number of doors as she passed them since she couldn't see the numbers very well. When she finally got to Riley's, she absentmindedly tried the knob, only to find that it was locked.

"Right…" Maya muttered, "She's in bed. Of course it's locked…"

"Where does she keep the spare?" Lucas asked.

Maya rolled her eyes. She had forgotten he was still there.

"On top of the door frame." Maya said, carefully slipping her feet out of her heels before turning to face him.

"Up there?" Lucas asked incredulously, looking up. "Why?"

"Because not that many people are Riley's height, so the chances of someone stealing her key and getting inside her apartment are lower. Now give me a boost." Maya said, stepping up to him. "Stoop."

Lucas dropped his gaze to her with a frown. "You can barely stand up straight."

"It's fine!" Maya huffed, "I'll hold on to the door frame, and you can just give me a bit of a height advantage. Now c'mon and stoop! Let me get on your shoulders."

With an annoyed sigh, Lucas crouched, his hands locking in a basket, so she could get up. She set one foot on his hands before slowly lifting herself to put the other foot on his shoulder while he steadied her leg. But as Lucas slowly started to rise, Maya realized if she got on his shoulders, if he just happened to glance up for any moment, he'd have a fairly clear view of her panties under her skirt.

Except that she _wasn't_ wearing any panties.

With a gasp, Maya slid her ankle from his shoulder, dropping her knee onto it. The motion made her lose her balance, and with a startled yelp, she curled her arms around his head quickly, grabbing his hair to keep her balance.

" _Ow! Fuck!_ " Lucas shouted, sounding muffled, grabbing her waist and trying to pull her off of him. "Dammit Maya! I'm not going to throw you or drop you! Let go of my hair!"

"No!"

Lucas grappled with her, trying to push her off as he stumbled backwards and Maya clung to him like a cat.

"What is wrong with you?! Just get the key!"

"I can't! I'm not wearing underwear you dope!"

"So?!"

"So I'm wearing a damn skirt!"

And Lucas froze, breathing a little roughly from trying to get her off of him and his face out of her stomach.

"Okay… New plan." he said, trying to catch his breath, "Let go of my hair before you make me bald. I'll put you down. And then I'll see if I can jump and grab the key. I think I should be able to get it."

That's right. Lucas was pretty tall. Definitely over six feet since Maya had to tilt her head up to look directly at his face without her heels.

"Why didn't you just offer to get it from the start?" Maya said crossly as she untangled her fingers from his hair.

"Look, I wasn't paying that much attention." Lucas stooped and set her down on the ground before standing back up and reaching for the key. His hand folded easily on top of the frame, and he felt around for the key with a frown. "It's five am. I'm exhausted, and I'm doing you a favour bringing you home after you got shitfaced at a bar."

He snatched it up from the top and backed away from the door frame before holding up the key to Maya with a raised brow.

"Here." He growled, eyeing her in annoyance. "The least you could do is say thank you instead of berate me."

"Thank you." She said, not altogether politely, snatching it out of his fingers. "And goodnight."

And before she could stop it or even think to run to the bushes, her stomach lurched, and she promptly bent over and hurled.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: So you might be confused for the next two chapters or so (unless you're not) but it's okay because it'll clear up and you'll see :) Now that we've gotten past the intro (ahahaha AFTER 23 CHAPTERS LOLOL) now the plot will continue mes amis!**

 **OKAY WOW. So the girl with the brown hair who sits next to Yindra? Her name is apparently _Jade_ but I called her  Jane in chapter 17 because I thought she looked like a Jane! Holy crap! I was only one letter off! Anyway, from here on out, the bridesmaid's name has been changed from Jane to Jade since that's her actual name, so just letting you know so you don't get confused in future chapters (/^▽^)/  
**

 **Ahahah I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story! Thank _you_ for always reading the chapters. Thank _you_ for just being so sweet in general and always so supportive of me! It means so much! Thank you for all your kindness! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Maya groggily opened up her eyes, clearing her dry throat and groaning when the soft pounding almost immediately kicked in. She glanced at the nightstand beside Riley's bed, seeing a full glass of water and two aspirins. Riley's doing no doubt. What would Maya do without her?

Slowly sitting up, Maya rubbed her sleepy eyes before knocking back the pills and guzzling down the water, hoping that it would kick in sooner rather than later because she was feeling worse for wear at the moment.

Riley had left her a note stating she didn't have any afternoon classes so she went grocery shopping to make a late brunch and that once she got back, they could head to the card store to choose the theme of the invitations. And then wrote another two paragraphs chastising her about how drinking was bad and how Maya shouldn't drink anymore because she was causing trouble for people. And then _another_ two paragraphs about how Maya scared her to death and how she was officially on probation from drinking until she learned to keep control of herself.

Maya frowned in confusion, staring at the note and wondering what the hell Riley was talking about. Was she talking about causing trouble for Missy? She wracked her brain, trying to think of what might have happened that Riley was so worried about.

Maya remembered the terrible encounter in the restaurant and finding out Lucas was Huckleberry the Hottie. And then she remembered going to the bar with Missy. And then drinking with Missy. And Missy trying to make her drink water that she kept refusing. There was Zay, the pretty awesome bartender and owner of the karaoke bar they had gone to. But after that, her memories were a little foggy, some patches gone entirely. She remembered finding out that Zay was Lucas' best friend. She remembered having gotten a ride from Lucas. She remembered walking to Riley's door, but after that, there was a whole chunk missing. And there were a lot of in betweens that were also fuzzy. Like how she couldn't remember any of the car ride or how she had gotten inside Riley's apartment.

And on top of that, how the heck had she even gotten into Riley's bed and changed into her pajamas anyway?

Maya rolled her eyes, laying back against the plush pillows and covering her eyes with her arm. The sunlight streaming in from the window was too bright. She could already tell this was going to shape up to be a crappy day. She wondered if Missy was okay. She was a lightweight. Whenever she got drunk off of like a few shots and one drink or so, she usually asked for a day off.

Maya snatched up her phone from the nightstand next to her head and checked her messages. Sure enough, there was text from Missy saying that she was taking a day off to nurse her headache. Maya snickered slightly to herself.

At least until her phone started ringing.

It was an unknown number.

Maya's eyes narrowed in annoyance. How often was the damn cell phone company going to call her? Maya picked up the phone, not even giving the other person on the line a chance to get one word in before she unleashed the beast.

"Hey you! Stop _calling_ me! I will pay for my phone bill when the end of the month comes, got it?"

 _"Maya?"_

That was not a phone company. In fact, Maya didn't recognize the voice at all, though clearly they knew her.

"Who is this?" Maya's brows furrowed in confusion.

 _"It's uh… Josh."_

Maya frowned. That didn't ring any bells whatsoever.

"Who?"

 _"Josh Matthews? You probably don't remember me, but I'm Riley's uncle? We met when you were seven and you spent Christmas with Riley in Pennsylvania."_ He chuckled. _"I was kind of terrified of you because you threatened to bite off my arm if I didn't marry you. You were pretty crazy so I kind of believed you."_

Well that rung a few bells. Maya vaguely remembered spending a Christmas with the Matthews once when her mom was on a theatre tour that took her away for that holiday. She remembered meeting some older kid named Josh and sitting on his head when he didn't give her the last candy cane but it had been literal _decades_. She couldn't even remember what he looked like.

"Crazy?" Maya growled in annoyance. "You're not making a very good case for yourself. That's not a compliment, you know?"

 _"Right… Sorry, I didn't mean—"_

"Okay… _why_ are you calling me? And where did you get this number from?" Maya knew she was being rude, but her head hurt, she was exhausted and though the car ride last night was kind of a blur, she distinctly remembered being very annoyed because of something Lucas may have said or did. And not knowing it was only increasing her displeasure.

 _"I just… Your mom talked about you so much when I ran into her that I felt like I wanted to get to know you. I've been calling you for a couple days now."_

So Josh was the lawyer that Farkle said her mother was trying to set her up with. And he was also that annoying unknown.

"Yeah?" Maya sat up slowly, kicking aside the blankets. "That's weird. And a little stalker-y."

 _"Are you still in New York City?"_

"Even if I was, I still wouldn't go out with you. Look, I'm not really in a mood to talk to anyone. Have a nice day. And don't call me again, Josh."

Maya hung up and ran her hand through her hair, rolling her eyes and wondering if it would be more prudent to just go back to sleep and start fresh tomorrow. As it stood, she wasn't sure she could manage to be civil to anyone other than with grunts or grumbles. Any words she said would most likely make someone cry. She was exhausted and she felt drained and oddly _empty,_ like she needed to eat.

And then her phone rang again. Maya snatched it up with a roll of her eyes.

"I told you not to call me again!" she barked.

 _"Is that any way to treat your oldest friend?"_

"Farks. What an interesting turn of events." Maya said, her brows lifting slightly. "So you finally call me back. You've finally deigned me worthy enough to speak to again. You've finally gotten time away from your supermodel girlfriend and fame. How is Clarissa, by the way?"

 _"Cecilia."_

"Still training for her triathlon?"

 _"5K marathon."_ Farkle growled, sounding hella annoyed. _"Maya, you know why I'm calling."_

"No. I don't." Maya said, amused by Farkle's irritation. Really. It was so much fun to rile him up.

 _"Why did you have Missy leave me four hundred and twenty voicemails two days ago?!"_

"She actually left them? Damn, she's thorough."

 _"I shouldn't even be responding to you at all for that little stunt you pulled! Do you know how long it took my secretary to clear up my office phone?!"_

"I'm sorry, but I need a good photographer for Riley's wedding. And I know you're the only one for the job. You're an incredible photographer, and I know you'll be able to capture the most perfect vision."

 _"Maya…"_

"It has to be you." Maya said earnestly, "I'll even pay you by giving you back your TV. C'mon. We can even do that dynamic duo tag team thing like when we did that senator's wedding last year. With my artistic creativity and your robotic eye, we can definitely make magic."

 _"I think you should try a different phrase._ " He said with a snort, _"And I don't care about the TV anymore."_

"Why have you been ignoring my emails and texts? And why don't you want to come down here?"

 _"The last time I worked with you, I ended up swallowing about a gallon of pond water and a pound of duck feathers. I think it's safe to say we are not compatible as work partners."_

"Look. Riley's not getting her dream wedding. She's getting married on a ranch and we bridesmaids will most likely be wearing these tacky ass cowboy boots so these pictures really need all the help they can get so the pictures that Riley will look at in the future will be somewhat happy memories even if they're not her perfect, dream wedding memories."

Farkle was silent for a very long time and Maya knew his silence meant that he was seriously contemplating it. If he had honestly not wanted to do it, he would have refused on the spot.

 _"If you ever leave me over four hundred voicemails again, our friendship is terminated, Maya."_

"Does that mean you'll do it?" Maya smiled.

 _"Have Missy send me your schedule for the wedding planning and your contract, and I'll come when I need to. But I'm only doing the actual wedding. Once it's done, I'm gone."_

"You don't want to stay for the after party? There'll be lots of do-si-doing and banjo playing country bumpkins galore." Maya joked.

 _"I don't really think I'll be into it."_ he said after a couple beats of silence, _"Like I said. I'll do everything leading to the marriage ceremony, but you'll have to find someone else for the after party and anything else you want after that, Maya."_

"Fine. I guess that's okay. I can just get the bridesmaids to change afterwards." Maya agreed. "Thank you, Farkle. I owe you one."

 _"You owe me like a hundred. I have an appointment. Bye."_

"Alright. Bye Farks."

Maya hung up the phone, mentally pumping her fist for succeeding in getting what she wanted. She didn't understand why Farkle was being so reserved, but she shrugged it off, climbing out of Riley's bed and stripping. She went to the adjacent bathroom, hopping into the shower, feeling a little groggy. But at least the steam helped a little to clear her head of the pressure.

Man, she must have really gotten trashed to be in this state. What happened?

She washed languidly, knowing Riley was an inefficient shopper and would probably take a while to finally figure out what she wanted to do for brunch. She tended to get distracted by the things on sale and things she'd never tried before, and Maya knew from experience that if the grocery store was handing out free samples that day, it was all over. Riley could be there for _hours._ Riley was a sucker for free samples. And she absolutely loved grocery stores.

Maya snorted, coming out of the shower and tying a small towel around her wet hair so it could soak up the excess water. She dried herself and pulled her towel around her and then headed out of the bathroom, deciding the only way to help this hangover was to get some caffeine in her system. Maya hated coffee, especially because she was still holding on to some hope that she would grow even a little bit more, but half a cup really did wonders for her hangovers.

She walked down the hall and then into the kitchen rubbing her eyes, still trying to wake herself up a bit more.

And when she moved her hand and blinked, she was met with the image of Lucas bent over, moving something in the fridge.

Surprised and nearly jumping out of her skin at his sudden appearance, Maya let out a little scream. Lucas jerked, shooting up and then promptly banging his head against the fridge. Maya couldn't help the little wince at the sound of his head colliding with the machine.

" _Fuck_!" he exclaimed, holding his head as he straightened to his full height.

Lucas turned to her, baffled, and then he froze when his gaze landed on her. Of all the faces she would have wanted to see first thing in the morning, Lucas' stupid, bewildered, and shocked one was not on that list. Not even close to being last on the list. Maya could feel her face burning with a blush.

"What are you doing in Riley's apartment?!"


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Okay I know I have to respond to all PMs and I will get on that soon! I promise! I just need to update a crap ton of stuff first!**

 **And also, for this story, remember things have to be _worse_ for them to get better ;3 I suspect a few of you might get annoyed with the next few chapters but that's to be expected I guess :) We'll see! It'll get more lighthearted soon, I promise, but for now, it's sort of following the plot of TWP :)  
**

 **Thank you for the reviews! You guys are super sweet and it's just so heartwarming and lovely to read all the kind words you guys have for the story. Thank you always for putting up with the weirdness of this story and for supporting me! And for all of you brave souls who never back down in the face of adversity? I commend your strength, and I hope you guys are okay! Don't forget that if you ever want to just talk or rant, my PM box is always open for you loves! I will make time for you no matter what, because you all are very important to me! Love you all! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Maya was appalled. Why—of all situations—did _this_ one have to happen? And why the hell was Lucas turning up everywhere? From the very first day she'd been in Austin, she'd run into him constantly, and quite frankly, she was getting tired of it.

"What are you doing in Riley's apartment?!" she repeated, glaring up at him.

"Riley invited me over for brunch. And would you calm down?! Why are you so loud?!"

She had no good response for that. None she could think of at the moment with her mind so sluggish in coming up with any responses. Why did her hangovers always have to make her so slow? And what was worse was that she felt like a dwarf in front to him, not wearing her heels. She didn't like that he had such a huge height advantage. She felt so small, and she hated that.

"Because you literally showed up out of nowhere!" Maya said indignantly, rubbing her temples when her head throbbed again from the headache. How come those damn aspirins weren't kicking in yet?

"I've been here for an hour. Riley asked me to make sure you got some hangover elixir or something once you woke up." Lucas frowned, "And could you put some clothes on please?!"

Maya's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why? Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Yes!"

She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Let me guess. Your mind is going to dirty places because that's the kind of person you are. A dirty _sleaze_ who thinks about anyone other than the supposed love of your life. You're disgusting." Maya sneered, "I was right. Love really doesn't exist."

Lucas opened his mouth to respond and then shut it, his brows furrowing in bewilderment. He did a double take, staring at her incredulously for a few seconds like he hadn't heard her correctly just then.

"What?" He finally scoffed, looking at her like she had lost her mind. "You think love doesn't exist?"

"I don't think. It doesn't."

Lucas was looking absolutely floored, and his expression would have been funny if his eyes didn't have a shade of disgust buried behind his shock.

"Are you serious right now?" Lucas crossed his arms in front of his chest, mimicking her position. "How can you not believe in love? You're the wedding planner."

"And? Me being a wedding planner has nothing to do with my ideals and stance on marriage and love."

"Ridiculous." He narrowed his eyes in slight disgust. "You're cynical about marriage. Yet ironically you're a wedding planner."

"That doesn't matter." Maya snarled, "And I've got a bone to pick with you. I want to know why you proposed to Riley after three months of dating when _clearly_ you aren't ready for marriage since you hit on someone else."

" _Look_. Yes, I accidentally may have been slightly attracted to you for a moment, but I'm not anymore, okay? Stop bringing it up, dammit. Can you seriously let it go? You act like I tried to sleep with you or something." Lucas growled, ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "And I proposed to Riley because she makes me happy. She makes me a better me."

"Yeah? Well what have you done for her? You know, other than doing a shit job as her fiancé."

"What?" Lucas rolled his eyes with a sneer. " _I'm_ doing a shit job? I'm doing a shit job when you bulldoze over Riley's wishes and do whatever you want for the wedding and when we actually come to a consensus that's good for both of us, you decide against it because I had a say. What kind of shitty planning is that?"

"Like I said, it's justifiable considering your actions regarding these past few days."

"Justifiable how? Because _you_ don't like me? You know, the more I talk to you, the more it's pretty obvious to me that you're unqualified for this kind of work. Especially with your supposed views on marriage and love."

"Oh look. Huckleberry here thinks I care what he has to say."

"Why are you even a wedding planner? Do you just do the job because of the money?"

"I do my job because it's my job, regardless of circumstances."

"That's disgusting. If a couple is clearly wrong for each other or if one party is cheating, you just marry them anyway because it's ' _your job_ '?"

"I'm under no obligation to say a word. It's none of my business anyway, and I'm under contract. If a couple should happen to be wrong, they need to figure it out themselves."

"You're a terrible wedding planner."

Maya bristled, her eyes glinting sharply at his words.

"I'm a terrible planner?! You're a damn terrible fiancé!" She snapped, jabbing him sharply in the chest. "You know I've handled a lot of crappy marriages with distant grooms but never one where the groom was so _ignorant_ to the wishes of the bride! You're okay with a plain jane wedding on a ranch and you proposed in a frickin apartment, but did you ever think to regale Riley? If you even knew anything about Riley at all, you would definitely know that Riley is a princess and deserves extravagance."

He looked so utterly confused. "How the hell would I know that?"

"Because if you cared enough, you would have tried to find that out! But clearly you don't care enough about her not to flirt with anything that you can stick your—"

"It's not like that! _Fuck_ , I made one mistake and now you won't let me live it down!"

Maya took a menacing step towards him.

"Of course I won't let you live it down you dirty sleaze! One and done is my motto. If you do stuff like this _before_ you're even married who's to say you won't do even worse when you're actually married to Riley? And I won't stand for it."

"Of course… it makes sense for someone like you. This uptight, cynical, angry little person who only can think negatively. Did your mother not love you enough as a child?"

Maya stiffened, her jaw slackened slightly, her brows lifting in surprise at his words. Had he really just said that to her?

"You're a jerk!"

She might as well have stomped her foot indignantly on the floor with those words because she was well aware that she had probably looked and sounded like a child angry that her favourite toy got taken away at playtime. It wasn't her best comeback or insult, but she felt flustered and thrown off guard and she couldn't think of anything else to say and her mind wasn't working the way it was supposed to.

"I'm a jerk for expressing my honest thoughts." He snorted, raising a brow. "Yeah, okay."

"First off don't you dare insinuate anything about _my_ mom." Maya snarled, threateningly curling her hand around the collar of his shirt, "Second, I don't care what kind of dysfunctional childhood I had, but at least my mom isn't a degrading, pompous, rich bitch who judges people by their covers."

"What?" He growled, his eyes glinting sharply. He was looking seriously pissed now. "You don't even really know my mom. Where the hell do you think you have the right to say anything like that?"

"I call it like I see it. And you started it when you made that comment about my mom you asshole!"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"What the fuck is wrong with _you_?!"

They fell silent, glaring at each other, eyes blazing, breathing a bit harsh. Maya felt her irritation mount, the urge to punch him in the face really strong. All she had to do was cock back her fist and fly it up and she could feel that satisfying fist on face sensation. It'd be nothing. Just like when she would punch Riley's asshole exes in the past. And Lucas was close enough that he wouldn't see it coming.

And that's when Maya noticed just how close they were actually standing.

So close that the scent of Lucas' cologne was pervading her nose.

So close that she could feel his body heat.

So close she could actually see the bronze in his sea foam coloured irises as he stared down at her. Lucas' eyes widened at almost the same time hers did in surprise, and she watched as his pupils dilated. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as she felt her neck flush.

Frowning, Maya let go of his shirt as if it was on fire, taking a step back in slight alarm and putting more distance between them. Lucas rearranged his collar, though his gaze remained on her, the confused expression on his face still there. Maya knew she had the same look on her own face.

Riley's apartment door suddenly opened, and she walked in, carrying her grocery bags in her hands.

"I'm back~" she sang.

Maya's gaze shot to the door, away from Lucas. He averted his gaze entirely as well, taking a deep breath and running his hand through his hair.

What the hell had that been?


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Everyone who is freaking the fuck out about GM Texas, yes, FREAK OUT. But freak out like me! xD We're alright, loves! We are _fine_! So please just be like me and run into walls and fall out of chairs and trip on curbs thinking about Lucaya :3 I mean damn! They frickin'  almost kissed (that is so incredible!) and it was so intense that the fire next to them got pissed that they stole his thunder! Lol I am such an obsessive Lucaya shipper ahaha!  
**

 **Keep smiling and being excited please guys :) Your smiles mean the world to me and we all have to support one another and give each other hope! Because it will be a long and difficult ride, but who ever said life was supposed to be easy? (LOL WHY IS THIS SHIP TAKING OVER MY LIFE?!)  
**

 **Thank you for all the support! I really appreciate all the kind words and how sweet you all are to me! Thank you for being so patient with my update failures in my time of stress! I honestly thank you for it! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

When Maya came back to the kitchen after leaving to get dressed and ready for her day, Lucas was helping Riley put away some groceries. They were speaking in somewhat hushed tones, but she could tell that Riley was agitated from the way her voice did that slightly high pitched, whiny thing it did when she was trying to get her point across.

She shuffled in, her eyes narrowing when they met Lucas' who gave her an annoyed raised brow in return.

"Honestly Maya and Lucas. I don't understand why you two can't get along." Riley said in annoyance, "You're acting like children!"

"Because I don't like him." Maya said, snatching up a green apple from Riley's bowl and tossing it up and down. "Why the hell did you invite him over?"

Riley rolled her eyes, closing the fridge after putting in some juice. "I invited him over for brunch so that you two can better understand each other after yesterday's disastrous dinner. You guys have a lot of common interests. I think you could really be friends."

Lucas and Maya froze at the same time, briefly glancing at each other before turning to Riley.

"Riley, that's really not a good idea." Lucas said.

"We don't need to get to know each other." Maya asserted. "It's not necessary."

"Yes you do."

"I really don't think it's a good idea." Maya said through grit teeth, "Especially not for Ranger Rick over here."

Lucas shot her a dirty look.

"And why not?! You're my best friend Maya." Riley exclaimed in annoyance, "And Lucas, you're my fiancé. My two favourite people. If you can't get along, I'm going to be upset. I don't want to have to divide my time up between you two!"

"We're already going stargazing sometime this week Riley." Maya continued to press. "Why do we need to hang out more?"

She didn't want to spend any time with him if she didn't need to.

"Because I said so." Riley snapped, leaving the kitchen and walking towards the front door. "I'll be right back. That elderly neighbour locked herself out of her apartment again. Now talk it out."

As soon as Riley left, Maya glared at Lucas.

"Sleaze."

So what if she was being immature. She couldn't stand him.

"At least I'm not a midget." He shot back.

It was a stupid insult and retort, but it still pissed Maya off, and she grit her teeth in annoyance. Dammit. How the hell was he able to irritate her so easily? No one was able to get under her skin like this. Except for him. And it was seriously pissing her off even more.

"If you think for a damn second we'll ever get along, you've got another think coming."

"Took the words right out of my mouth."

"You're a piece of shit."

Lucas rose a brow. "That the best you've got?"

"You know, if you weren't Riley's fiancé," Maya said super sweetly, taking a bite of her apple, "I'd have you on the ground holding your nuts in pain right now."

"What is it with you and physical violence all the time?" Lucas rolled his eyes. "Are you incapable of talking things out?"

"That's how we do things in New York, bub. Maybe if you hadn't gotten on my bad side, you wouldn't have to know."

"You're ridiculous."

"And you're pathetic. You don't deserve Riley."

"Neither do you. You're a shitty and selfish friend." He sneered, eyeing her with an unreserved look of disgust. "You don't even support the marriage of your best friend, regardless of whether she's happy in it or not. It's all about what _you_ want."

Maya was so utterly shocked by his blatant malevolence that she paused mid chew, her brows lifting in absolute astonishment. Lucas Friar was an _asshole_. It was like the girls completely pegged this guy all wrong. Everything they'd said about him was false. Was it really the same guy? Because the things they'd said about him, the way they'd raved on and on about how sweet and polite he was. She was _not_ getting that vibe.

And then Maya burst out into laughter, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I _knew_ you were too good to be true. You are the farthest thing from a Mr. Perfect. You're just like every other guy. An asshole. You put on this act, don't you? You're trying to be seen as this perfect gentleman, and you might have Riley fooled and every other damn girl in the wedding party, but I can see right through you. Especially that cold temper of yours that you think you're hiding. You're no prince."

Lucas' eyes widened, looking momentarily startled and staring at her in shock. They fell into a lapse of silence, Maya taking a triumphant bite of her apple as Lucas' eyes slowly narrowed. He looked a little shellshocked.

"…At least I helped you last night. I had to put up with your shouting in my ear and total drunken behaviour and then you threw up on my shoes and passed out. I had to come in and wake Riley up to help take care of you because you were completely trashed. And then I was late for work. Thanks for that by the way."

She couldn't remember any of that.

"What? You're full of shit. That definitely never happened."

"Yeah? Who took you home last home?"

"It was…" She wanted to say Zay to spite him, but she knew she had been in Lucas' truck. And she knew he walked her to the door. There was no way he was lying. "…Fuck."

"Exactly. The least you could do is apologize. Or a thank you would be nice."

" _Apologize_? Me. Apologize to _you_?" Maya scoffed, "Let me put it in a way you can understand, Huckleberry. The day the words 'I'm sorry' are uttered from my lips to you is the day that I grow to be six feet tall. It ain't gonna happen. _Ever_."

"Has anyone ever told you that you are unbelievably petty?" Lucas crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Has it even crossed your mind once that you have a horrible personality?"

"Horrible personality, huh?" Maya sneered, setting the apple onto the table and cracking her knuckles. She was so close to climbing over this counter and beating the shit out of him. "That's certainly not what you thought when you were attracted to me despite the fact that you had a fiancée. So what does that say about you?"

Lucas' expression grew stormy, his jaw clenched as they glared at each other. Maya cocked her hip, raising a brow in challenge, daring him to give his best shot at whatever damn refute he had. His eyes narrowed dangerously, glinting with something pretty dark.

"You know what I think?" He growled lowly, leaning against the counter, "You keep bringing up the fact that I briefly thought you were attractive because you're trying to validate to yourself that you are attractive since I'm sure no one has been interested in someone like you."

Oh hell no.

Lucas Friar was about to get a black eye.

A black eye, a busted nut, broken rib, etc.

Maya clenched her fists, walking slowly around the kitchen counter to him, tossing her apple into the trash on the way. Lucas watched her impassively as she approached. His eyes flashed with something a little dangerous, his gaze challenging her.

But before Maya could retort or say anything else, Riley walked back into the apartment with a sour expression on her face.

"I don't see people being friends in here!" She said, storming over to them in the kitchen with her mouth turned down into a frown, "Why aren't you friends yet?"

"Riley, look, brunch sounded nice, but I think I'm just going to leave. This isn't going to work." Lucas said, still staring Maya down, "If you want to get something to eat later, just let me know."

He kissed Riley's forehead before walking out of the kitchen and leaving the apartment.

As soon as the apartment door shut, Maya bristled when Riley slowly turned to face her, her expression hurt and disappointed. Maya sighed, knowing Riley was angry at her. She could see it in the way her best friend's eyes were gleaming in that way that told Maya she was very upset. And Maya instantly felt bad.

"Riley…"

"Save it." Riley said dejectedly, shutting Maya up with a single look, "Let's just have brunch and then go to the card store."

"Alright…"


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: And the embarrassing stuff at school continues... *sigh* Guess what? Tore my pants trying to do a split. That was fun! :) (Word of advice: even if you're hella flexible, if you are wearing jeans that aren't particularly loose, I would not risk it!)  
**

 **I appreciate the reviews! Thank you for the kind words and the support! You guys are the best! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"How do you like the gold rimming on this one?" Maya asked, lifting up the card so Riley could look at it.

Riley ignored her inquiry, her gaze staunchly focused on the fifty something card border designs in front of her. Maya rolled her eyes, letting out a long sigh and sitting back in her chair, a pointed brow raised as she waited for Riley to stop the silent treatment.

Riley had been keeping silent since brunch and since they had arrived at the store, but Maya knew that Riley couldn't stay angry at her for very long. She was physically incapable. It would only be a matter of time before she broke and talked to Maya again.

And she didn't disappoint.

"Why don't you like, Lucas?" Riley finally said with a frown, " _Everybody_ likes Lucas. He's such a great, nice guy."

Maya turned to her, a serious look on her face. "Riley. How much do you actually know about him? You keep saying he's this nice guy and talking about how _perfect_ he is and how he behaves, but I'm getting a completely different vibe. And truth be told, I think he might have a temper."

"No he doesn't."

"Have you ever seen him get mad? Not irritated, but _really_ mad."

"He doesn't get mad mad. He's usually always in a good mood."

Maya's eyes narrowed incredulously.

There was no way. Lucas had gotten mad at her the _very first time_ they'd met and even cursed at her.

Nice guy her ass.

The girls had made him out to be this Prince like guy, but Maya could clearly see that was not the case. She didn't know him that well, sure, but she could easily tell enough about him to know that a prince? He was not.

"Maya. You should thank him for helping you. Especially after you vomited on him."

Maya stiffened. "Thank him? After he's insulted me countless times? I don't think so."

"Well, from what I noticed, it seems like you've been insulting him as well."

"That's different."

"Different how?" Riley said in exasperation, setting her pen on the table with a huff, "Why is it that you keep insulting him and antagonizing him? Why do you both keep doing that? I don't understand. I know you've never really gotten along with anyone I've been with, but this is kind of extreme."

"Not important." Maya responded. "Either way, I'm not thanking him. Or apologizing."

"You will. Or I'm not letting you bring any alcohol into my apartment anymore." Riley threatened with a scowl. It didn't have quite the bite it should have because Maya still thought Riley looked sweet and gentle, even when mad. It was more amusing than anything. "And that goes for any alcohol in your system as well. If you have any alcohol in you and try to come home, I'll lock you out."

"Riley, our bodies produce small amounts of alcohol molecules every day through metabolic and chemical processes." Maya joked. "Are you saying I can't enter your apartment ever again?"

"You know what I mean Maya." Despite her stern tone, a small smile was tugging on Riley's lips. "I mean it. I'm not happy about this. Why do you hate Lucas?"

Maya looked away. "I just… don't like the idea of giving you up to someone and marrying them. They might not treat you right."

"So this about you?"

That was one way to put it.

"Maya. I'm never going to desert you, you know? You're my sister. I'd never neglect you because I love you so much." Riley said in exasperation, "But I also love _Lucas_. You're going to have to accept that he's going to be part of our lives from now on. Look. Why don't you visit him at his office and you can even interrogate him like you used to do my dates in college. You can learn more about him. And then maybe that will help you warm up to him."

"Riley… that's not a good—"

"Maya, I'm not asking you. I'm _begging_ you to please give Lucas a chance." Riley said, clutching her hand, "I really want us to be one big happy family. And I don't want to choose one or the other. I want you both. So please try. If you don't fix this, I'm going to sic Missy on you, and she'll make you do this."

Somehow Maya highly doubted that it would work seeing as how Missy knew just how screwed up the situation was, but Riley looked upset and her eyes were doing that puppy dog eyed glimmering thing that Maya could not physically resist. So she sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Fine. I'll go to his stupid office tomorrow." she growled in annoyance, speaking through grit teeth.

"Yay!" Riley said happily, "I have a feeling you two will be the best of friends!"

"Yeah, let's not get carried away, Riley."

She grinned and then pushed over a card to Maya.

"So what do you think about the purple on this one…"


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N:** **LOL Laurel! I know the situation sucks and I am so so sorry, but I burst out laughing so hard after reading that! I am so sorry! X'D (But it really made me laugh! You made my day!)**

 **I know I have to respond to PMs and I know I am severely behind, but I will get on that as soon as I finish up some more writing! I promise I'll get on it soon!**

 **Thank you for the kind reviews you guys! I really appreciate it! Thank you for being so sweet! I hope you guys have wonderful days/afternoons/evenings! And I love youuuuu allllll! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Maya dragged her feet through the hall to the office the secretary had directed her to. The office across the same examination room she had been in a handful of days ago after her nose had almost gotten busted in by his stupid head. Maya really didn't want to be here, but Riley had forced her to get up and dropped her off since Missy was using the rental car that day.

The door was open when she got there and she peeked in carefully, looking around but Lucas wasn't inside his office. She walked in, looking around at the various credentials and certificates he had on his wall. And some picture of him as a kid on a horse with an old man of wide girth standing proudly beside him. He was grinning all wide and goofy, his two front teeth missing and some giant cowboy hat on his head. She snorted.

There was also a bowl of peppermint candies.

Discreetly looking around, Maya grabbed them all and stuffed them in her purse.

"So apparently you're a thief too."

Maya froze, stiffening and mentally cursing when she heard Lucas behind her.

"What?" She said, glancing at him over her shoulder. He was giving her a deadpan look, leaning against his door frame with a raised brow. She was surprised to see he was wearing glasses. And annoyed that he didn't look dorky in them. If anything, they just made him even more attractive. "They're complimentary, aren't they? And I like peppermints."

"You're a real piece of work." He said with a roll of his eyes, walking around his desk and sitting in his chair, removing his glasses and setting them on his desk. "Riley told me you would be stopping by. You here to rip off my limbs? Or better yet, yell at me again until my ears bleed? Please, have a seat."

Maya forced herself to remember that she was doing this because she loved Riley and didn't want to upset her best friend. Even though all she wanted to do was curse out Lucas.

"Look, we need to talk." Maya said, sitting down in one of the chairs on the other side of his desk. "I realized in getting lectured by Riley that I don't know anything about you. And that my only perception of you is that you're an idiot."

He rolled his eyes with a scoff.

"So I decided I needed to see how sincere you were about this marriage thing with my own two eyes since you already fucked up. That way, even if you are an idiot, at least I won't feel the need to suspect your devotion to Riley in the future. So I have some questions for you."

"Gee, how awesome." He drawled, leaning back in his chair, "And here I thought I was going to get an apology."

She ignored him.

"You need to know something about me. I don't trust anyone who is with Riley. There is no shitty man in this world good enough for her." Maya regarded him seriously. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"That you're not only a cynical pessimist, but you also might be a misandrist?" Lucas said with a raised brow, "Yeah. I think I've got it."

"I'm serious. You might think my disapproval is overdone, but I won't ever approve of your marriage with her. Not because you're you, but because you're with _Riley._ The most I can do is accept it if I know that you are sincere with her, but if I don't have even that feeling from you, you can bet your ass that I won't be backing down anytime soon."

Lucas stared at her, his brows slightly furrowed as he considered what she said. After a few beats of silence, he sighed, sitting up straight and folding his hands on his desk.

"Fine. What questions did you have?"

"Why haven't you and Riley had sex?"

His brows raised in shock, his mouth opening and closing incredulously for a few moments as he tried to collect himself. Maya waited patiently for him to compose himself, her expression carefully blank, though his reaction did make her want to laugh her ass off. He had definitely not been expecting that question for sure.

"How is that any of your—"

"I don't think you understand the depth of my relationship with Riley, Huckleberry." Maya responded, cutting him off before he completed that stupid question she knew he was about to ask, "She is _my_ wife just as much as she is going to be yours. We tell each other everything about our lives. So tell me why, or I'm going to jump to some pretty bad conclusions."

"She said she wanted to wait until after we're married. That there's more to look forward to that way."

"So that's why you proposed so quickly." Maya said, raising a brow.

"What?" Lucas frowned. "No."

"So you _don't_ want to get into her pants?"

"That's not what I said."

"Why don't you want to get in her pants?" Maya pressed, carefully gauging his reactions. "You don't think Riley is attractive?"

"I do think Riley is attractive!"

"So then you only wanted to get married because you _are_ just trying to get in her pants."

"What the hell is up with your questions?! You're trying to trap me and twist my answer. I didn't say anything!"

"That's exactly right." Maya said, crossing her legs smugly and folding her arms in front of her chest, "You've answered nothing and managed to make me even more skeptical about your relationship with Riley than I already am."

"I give up… There's no winning with you."

"You're learning fast. Next question: Would you ever cheat on Riley? If someone you were more attracted to came out of nowhere and seduced you, would you cheat on Riley?"

"Never."

"Wrong answer." Maya said, shaking her head in disdain. "You're a real dumbass."

"What?" Lucas snarled, "So you're saying you think I _should_ be cheating on Riley?"

"No, you Huckleberry dumbass." Maya rolled her eyes. Lucas narrowed his eyes in annoyance at the nickname. "The right answer to that question is that you _wouldn't_ ever be seduced by anyone because you _wouldn't_ ever be more attracted to anyone other than your wife."

Lucas gave her an incredulous look, looking so utterly floored and confused that Maya briefly had to look away to keep from laughing her ass off. He was doing absolutely horribly on her trap quiz, but at least it was pretty entertaining watching him fuck up.

"You're really screwing this up. One more question, Sundance."

"Joy…"

"Why haven't you talked to your mother that much about Riley?" Maya asked, watching him seriously. She had been playing around before, but this one, he had better have a good answer to otherwise she would honestly never approve. "Are you ashamed of her?"

"No. It's not like that." he responded honestly, "My mom. She's never been fond of my dating past. Never trusted the girls I've been with. I've had some pretty bad relationships, many of which were just random flings and people who used me. She doesn't really trust anyone who I get with. It takes a lot to win her over or get her to like anyone. I didn't really bring up Riley because deep down, I knew my mom would judge her. I wanted to protect her from getting hurt."

Maya held her tongue that his plan backfired horribly and Riley _had_ gotten hurt, but she understood the gist of it. And he didn't seem to be putting on any pretenses or airs. She could feel and see the sincerity in his gaze. His honest intentions had been good.

Her phone beeped suddenly, and Maya reached in her phone and pulled it out, checking it and wondering who was contacting her. It was a reminder text from Missy letting her that she had an appointment with the florist in fifteen minutes to set a contract for providing the wedding flowers once they were decided upon.

With all the crazy that had been going on, she had completely forgotten.

"Shit!" Maya exclaimed, her brows high on her forehead.

She dialed Missy's number quickly, ignoring Lucas' inquisitive stare.

She was going to be so late. She wouldn't have any time to head back to Riley's to change into something more professional than the sundress she had on. It was a good thing she carried extra contracts in her bag though or she would really be screwed.

 _"Hello?"_

"Can you come pick me up, Missy? I'm at Lucas' veterinarian's office."

 _"Why are you at his office?"_ Missy sounded so confused.

"Not important." Maya snapped, "Missy, c'mon. I'm about to be late!"

 _"Maya, no. I already told you. I'm taking a leave of absence from work this week to mend my broken heart by maxing out John's credit card by going on an all week shopping spree."_

"Yes, but I really need you! And you have the car!"

 _"Even if you need my help, there's no way I can get to you and drop you off in time. Why don't you just get a ride from Lucas? Besides, he knows the owner of the flower shop. Their parents are friends, remember? And please try not to kill him?"_

"What kind of shitty assistant are you? You're not allowed to refuse my requests."

 _"The kind who is suffering from a broken heart and who deserves a break from your cynicism and constant nervewracking inability to be on time. Bye Maya."_

Missy hung up abruptly, and Maya stared at the phone in shock, her mouth slightly open. Missy was so going to pay for that.

"You have to go?" Lucas asked.

Maya groaned with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah. Your groomsman, Charlie. Can you drive me to his store please?"

Lucas checked his watch, his face twisted in slight hesitation. "I guess…"

"Can you get me there in fifteen minutes?"

"Probably." His eyes narrowed. "You can't find another ride."

"Would I be asking you if I could?" Maya retorted, "I don't like you. Why would I ever want to ride with you?"

"Good point." Lucas stood up, grabbing his keys from his desk. "Alright. Let's go."


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Ahahahahaha! Lucaya is my life and love xD**

 **I am so thankful for all the sweet reviews that you have given me! Thank you kindly for always being supportive and for always being sweet and kindhearted and for reading this story! I truly appreciate it! Just like I appreciate you guys! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Can you drive a little faster, please? I'd like to get to the store _today_."

"I don't know if you've noticed," Lucas snarked, "But there is such a thing as _traffic_. I can't very well plow into these other cars, now can I?"

Maya said nothing in response, sitting stiffly in the passenger seat and chewing on her lower lip with a scowl on her face. After a few more long moments of silence, Lucas sighed.

"Why are you still mad at me?"

"You know why."

"Look, I apologized for that."

He turned on a less congested street, taking them through the back roads to avoid the traffic.

"You know why I'm still mad?" Maya said, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, "Because Riley is my best friend."

"So you've told me." Lucas drawled with a growl of annoyance.

"Listen, okay? Here's the thing. I have _no_ faith in love. I don't believe in it; it doesn't exist to me. It will never happen for me. I'm Maya. Love doesn't happen for women like me." Maya said, staring at the passing buildings outside. "But Riley; she's a sweetheart. A princess. The kind of woman who should get great things in her life. She adores love. She has full faith in it. She believes it's the greatest thing in the world after unicorns. And though I may tell her hundreds and thousands of times that I don't think love exists, I never want her to stop believing in it."

She saw Lucas briefly glance at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I never want her to get hurt by it." Maya continued. "I want her to always have big dreams about love. Sparkly images of love. I don't want her mind tainted by dark thoughts about love being terrible. I supply enough dark thoughts about love for the both of us. And she truly, honestly loves you. And I don't want to see her heart get broken by you. I don't want to see her heart broken at all. So please don't lead her on. Don't act like you love her to her face and then turn around and flirt with anything that breathes. I need you to figure out how you really feel about her. Do you love Riley?"

"I do." Lucas responded seriously.

Maya stared at him. She knew he wasn't lying. But she still remained unconvinced. As much as she wanted to believe what he said, she knew it would take a lot more than some pretty words before she really let him off the hook. Actions spoke louder than words. And at the moment, the only action she had to go by was his accidental subconscious flirting. And not even with his betrothed.

"If you break her heart, I'm coming after you." Maya threatened.

"I get it. So can we be civil at least? Riley is going to get worried if we still can't get along." Lucas rose a brow. "And if we have to spend time together for the next three months and who knows how many years later, I'd rather not have a Chihuahua yipping at my head."

"I can be civil when we're around Riley. But I still don't like you. And I still want to kick your ass for leading me on."

"Great. The perfect basis to becoming friends. Dislike." Lucas said, turning into a shopping center parking lot, "Look Maya. I wasn't trying to lead you on. I'm sorry I flirted with you. I didn't even realize I was, okay? I just… I don't know. I talked to you and I liked you for a second and it was weird and before I knew it, you told me I was flirting and I realized I didn't even know what was going on with me. But I swear it wasn't intentional. What can I do to make you forgive me and drop it?"

She eyed him warily.

"Just tell me and I'll do it."

Maya sighed, realizing this whole act like she wanted to snap him in half thing was starting to get tiring too. She did dislike him, but she just wasn't into fighting all the time. She was supposed to be mature. But he kept making her feel so out of control it annoyed her. And every time he responded to her, she just couldn't help but snap back. She really liked getting the last word, and she was not a particular fan of anyone else having it. Maybe that was her being immature, but when one grew up in a life where everyone had an advantage over them, it was hard not to want to be on top.

"You know what. Fine. Let's just bury the hatchet and try to start again. And maybe I was a little immature about the whole crush thing. So I'm apologizing for that. But just so you know, I've got my eye on you. And I still don't want to be anywhere near you."

He gave her a brief, exasperated look. "Damn. What does it take to get on your good side? You hold a grudge like nobody's business."

"I only hold a grudge when it pertains to Riley. Or when people fuck with me. And guess what, mister? You screwed up both. You almost hurt Riley _and_ you toyed with me. So that grudge isn't going away anytime soon."

"Fine, I will admit my actions were not the best. But despite that, I hope we can get off the right foot someday."

"We'll see. And that depends on how you treat Riley from here on out."

"I understand." He pulled up and stopped in front of a small store with a wide array of colourful flowers adorning the front.

"Good." Maya's eyes narrowed as she looked at him, but she she nodded slowly. "As long as you understand."

"I do."

"Good."

"Good."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Maya opened the passenger door and climbed down, smoothing down the wrinkles on her dress in hopes that maybe he would overlook how unprofessional she looked, nevermind the fact that she was a handful of minutes late.

"Hey uh…" Lucas rubbed the back of his neck. Maya turned and faced him. "You know. I'm also sorry. I shouldn't have made that comment about your mother. I was an ass."

So maybe he wasn't as terrible as she had thought, but that didn't mean she liked him any better.

"You were."

"It wasn't unprovoked though. You wouldn't let the mistake go. I didn't think I should be condemned forever for something I messed up on once upon a time."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Really? You think your mistake was worth being overlooked?"

"You know what, nevermind." Lucas growled, "Can we make a deal, then? If you stop bringing up the whole crush thing, I promise I won't try to antagonize you. If you let the whole flirting with you thing go, I'll let the whole you acting like a petty bitch thing go."

"Deal. Although I wouldn't say I was acting like a bitch."

"You always have to have the last word, don't you?" Lucas gave her an annoyed look.

"So do you apparently."

"Yeah, but it's not like I always continue it. You keep up these arguments."

"I mean, if you would just shut up and not say anything back, then we wouldn't have this problem."

"You really are ridiculous."

"And you're pathetic. Do you really want to start this up again?"

He shook his head with a sigh, looking fed up with the whole conversation.

"Maya." Lucas said, "Do you need a ride back to Riley's when you're done?"

"No thanks. I'll just get Riley to pick me up."

He nodded.

"And… thank you." Maya said, forcing herself not to grimace, "For the ride… And for helping me after I threw up on you. Which in my opinion, you definitely deserved though."

"Okay, you could have definitely left the last part out." He rolled his eyes, but there was small smile on his face. "But you're welcome."

Maya nodded tersely and then shut the door before spinning around and hurrying inside of Gardner Flowers.

Sure, she knew she could be civil around Lucas, but she thought being friends would be a bit of a stretch.

And honestly, she still wasn't sure it was such a good idea.


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: Still behind, but slowly catching up! Give me some time! I'll be there soon! xD Ahaha and I'm glad you guys picked up on the Gardner pun with his job ;) And! I am also _so_ glad you guys picked up on the Channy reference! I really miss those two nuts :( *sigh***

 **(Also, I did something to Charlie here lol. Idk if you think he's OOC, but I just have always imagined him this way, and I like him as this kind of character).**

 **Thank you for all the support you guys! I know things are slow, but they will pick up soon. It's just that there is a lot of introductory stuff that has to happen first unfortunately, but once those are out of the way, we'll get into the meat of the story ahahah! Thank you for your patience nonetheless! I appreciate it! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"So…" Maya said with a slight smirk as Riley responded to her text saying she was almost there, "You're a florist. And your last name is Gardner."

Charlie's face settled in a slight frown as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before signing the bottom of one of the forms.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. I know my name is a pun." He pushed the contract across the counter back towards Maya. "So is there a schedule for when you will need the flowers or anything? Or what type you'll need?"

"That's still to be determined." Maya responded flipping through all the pages to make sure there wasn't something missing. "I'm only here to ensure we have that contract for the flowers and a contracted florist. In this case, you. But I promise once all those details are sorted out, you'll be the first to know."

"Alright. Thank you for the business. I appreciate it."

"It's no problem at all."

Maya shook his hand with a smile.

She was glad Charlie was pretty agreeable about the whole thing. Despite her being late to the meeting, he had been completely open and friendly and didn't mind one bit. She had been able to discuss everything with him fairly quickly and notify him of all the terms and conditions. He had agreed with the contract and even taken Maya on a small tour around his store and the greenhouse in the back where he cultivated many of the flowers. In addition to fresh flowers, he also had a section of the store designated for false and imitation plants and pottery. The place smelled wonderful, the aroma of the flowers comforting and lovely. In a way, they kind of reflected who Charlie was. He was a little soft spoken and seemed to cower a bit behind his glasses, but she could tell he really loved his flowers and from the way he talked about them all enthusiastically, she knew he really loved his job. He was a sweetheart, she could tell.

"Expect a call from me as soon as Riley and Lucas decide what flowers they want to go with for their wedding."

"Right…" Charlie nodded, his lips slightly pursed as he rummaged under the counter for one of his business cards. "Don't expect much from Lucas though. He isn't the type to care about minute details like that. Not like me…"

"Yeah, I figured…" Maya said, her brows a bit furrowed as she took the business card.

Charlie hadn't said anything particularly alarming or profound, but there was something about his tone that made her stare at him for a second. It was a little irate. Maybe a little dejected or _disappointed_ in a sense.

Before she could respond though, the door jingled signifying the entrance of people and Maya turned around. Her brows lifted in surprise as Zay walked in, arms wide open, with Riley in tow.

"Maya! What a surprise." Zay gestured to Riley, "Look who I ran into outside the store."

"I didn't know you knew Zay, Maya." Riley said.

"We met recently." She replied, smiling.

"Met recently?" Zay said in affront, bringing his hand to his heart, "You wound me, Maya. I thought we were friends due for a spa day."

Riley giggled at his antics while Maya rolled her eyes in amusement.

"What are you doing here, Zay?"

"Charlie needed a ride to his mom's. She's having a small lunch with prospects of the firm, and she hopes that maybe if Charlie comes, he'll rethink his life choices and go into law. I don't know why Charlie just doesn't say no." Zay said, sidling up to Maya by the counter, "Hey, have you picked up on his store's name pun yet?"

Charlie sighed, shaking his head in irritation. "I don't know why you people get such a kick out of it. It's just a coincidence. It's not even that funny."

"You kidding? It's hilarious!" Zay nudged Maya in amusement. "He gets pretty weird about it."

"I do not!" Charlie said indignantly.

"You do seem to get a little bothered by it." Riley remarked with a smile, "But I like the name. I think it's a cute name for your store."

"Well…" Charlie looked away, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and clearing his throat. "I guess it's not that bad."

"So I take it none of you three were interested in succeeding your parents' firm?" Maya asked. "Your parents are lawyers, but none of you guys ended up as lawyers."

"Hell no. I barely studied in school, Lucas was never into law, more into biology and stuff like that, and Charlie is this sweet, sensitive guy. He could never make a good lawyer. There's no way I was going to become anything like my cutthroat mom." Zay snorted. "What about you, Maya? Did you follow in your parents' footsteps? Are they wedding planners too?"

"Maya, we were supposed to go for lunch, right?" Riley asked abruptly. They shared a quick glance, Maya giving her a small, grateful smile. She did not want to talk about that at the moment. "I have to take care of something, but I'll just be a moment."

She turned to Charlie.

"Have those special roses you were telling me about bloomed yet? I'd love to see them if it's not too much of an inconvenience for you."

Charlie smiled, and Maya stared at him when she recognized the slightly goofy nature of his grin.

"Don't worry about it, Riley. You could never do anything wrong." Charlie grabbed his keys and started walking towards the back. "It's not an inconvenience at all. I can show you them. I think you'll love them."

Maya's brows furrowed as Riley followed Charlie towards the back. "Okaaay… Is it just me, or am I sensing some vibes from Charlie?"

"You're sensing vibes." Zay leaned over conspiratorially. "You know Charlie is head over heels for Riley, right?"

"Yeah, I can tell from the heart eyes. Does Lucas know?"

"I know. He knows. _Everybody_ knows. It's not a secret. The only person who doesn't know is Riley."

Well that was kind of shocking. How could Riley not know? He was practically drooling at the mouth.

Mayas brows lifted on her forehead in surprise. "And Lucas is okay with that? The fact that his best friend wants his fiancée?"

"I don't know." Zay said with a sly grin on his face, "Is Riley okay with that?"

"Huh? With what?"

"The fact that her best friend wants her fiancé?"

Maya glared at Zay, and he lifted his hands up in apology.

"Sorry! I had to."

"I don't want Lucas." Maya growled, poking him in the chest. "Stop insinuating such disgusting things. I can barely tolerate him."

"You did want him at some point, though." Zay laughed as Maya rose a dangerous brow. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry! I won't bring it up again. Don't rip off my head."

"If you know what's good for you," Maya said, glancing over where Riley and Charlie were heading back towards the front, "You won't mention any of that within earshot of Riley."

"So the plot thickens. Riley doesn't even know this guy you were pining over was Lucas, either. Oh, this is so much juicier than I thought!"

"Stop it." Maya fake punched him in the stomach until he stopped laughing.

Charlie and Riley walked up, and Zay composed himself, pretending like nothing had happened.

"Ready to go Maya?" Riley asked, linking her arm with Maya's, "A colleague at work recommended a great bridal store so I was thinking maybe we could go there before lunch? How does that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan." Maya said, walking towards the door. She glanced behind her shoulder. "Charlie, it was nice doing business with you. I'll be in touch. And Zay, you better keep your mouth shut."

They walked out of the store arm in and arm, heading towards Riley's sensible Sedan parked in the lot.

"What was that all about?" she asked Maya in confusion.

"Oh it was nothing." Maya said, tugging Riley along, "So where's this bridal store anyway?"


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: Sorry for not updating in a while! I was honestly slacking on this story if I'm going to be perfectly honest with you all. But I'll try not to slack too much for this one anymore. It just doesn't make sense. Especially considering how much shorter the chapters in this one are compared to my typical stories! You don't deserve such long breaks like that. I hope you can forgive me!  
**

 **And here is where the story will start to divert from the TWP quite a bit. Time to focus on the characters. Ready? Okay! ;3  
**

 **Thank you for the wonderful reviews! I truly appreciate them and I am honestly so thankful that you all are so sweet and kindhearted! It means a lot to me! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"So… Where is Riley?" Maya asked, looking around at the deserted field of the park as she checked her watch for the thousandth time.

She and Lucas had been sitting there waiting for almost twenty minutes for Riley to arrive, but the chipper brunette was a no show.

It had been a productive day for Maya after she'd checked out a few dresses with Riley. Riley had been a little upset that it turned out she wouldn't be able to wear Topanga's wedding dress because she was too tall and a little too lanky to fill it out, but being in the store with all the lovely princess-like, white, poofy dresses had been a dream come true for Riley. And a nightmare for Maya. By the end of their dress perusal, Riley was in great spirits as she left for her grad course, and Maya had been able to check off a couple styles that wouldn't work for her best friend.

After that, Maya had gone to a home goods store and set up a wedding registry for the two soon to be's so that whenever they had time, they were to fill it out so that when Maya sent the RSVPs, people could determine what they wanted to get the couple. Then came the harder part, catering and music and such. It would have been easier to cut the work had Missy been involved, but she continued to refuse to work until she'd had ample time to heal her heart.

Thankfully for Maya, Zay had texted her a number of a friend who was associated with catering services and could help her figure it out when the time came, but that was something Riley and Lucas hadn't discussed yet for the wedding, so that was at a standstill. Zay had also said he could provide the alcohol for the open bar at the after party so Maya had drawn up a contract for him and that had been a done deal.

The last huge thing she and Missy would need to find before their next progress meeting with Lillian and James was a DJ, but since the location of the after party hadn't been discussed yet, that wasn't a pressing concern at the moment. Though as it stood, it looked like there was a high chance the after party could be a hoedown in a barn.

Which utterly _terrified_ Maya.

Other than that, Maya had sketched out a rough layout and design of the wedding in Pappy Joe's backyard with the wedding union for the bride and groom possibly taking place on that beautiful red oak wood bridge above the little pond. A wedding over the water decorated with lilies and white roses was as fairy tale as she could get on a ranch, she supposed, though there were obvious dangers involved with that idea, namely Riley tripping as she was oft to do and possibly falling in. But once again, because the stylistic aspects of the wedding hadn't been properly discussed since they were supposed to be figured out at that disastrous dinner, Maya hadn't had any real artistic visions yet. So that was at a standstill.

By the end of the day, she had been exhausted, but Riley had texted her the location of the stargazing spot and instructed her to meet them there. Missy had dropped her off with warnings not to patronize Lucas on purpose, and Maya had found Lucas sitting alone on the top of the hill of the field, staring at the sky.

But no Riley.

"I don't know." Lucas' brows furrowed, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. "She told me you'd both meet me here."

"Wait, what?" Maya stared at him. "She told _me_ to meet both of you guys here."

"…So we've been duped." Lucas deadpanned.

Maya growled under her breath in annoyance. This situation reeked of Riley's meddling ploys.

They had been duped.

Maya's phone rang, and she dug in her purse, yanking it out. When she saw it was Riley calling, she answered so fast, her irritation skyrocketing.

"Where the hell are you?" Maya growled. "You better be on your way, Riley."

 _"Are you and Lucas both there?"_ she asked cryptically.

"Yes. And it's awkward as fuck." Maya ground out through grit teeth, "So you better be on your way."

 _"Actually, Maya? I'm not coming."_

"What? What do you mean you're not coming?"

Lucas glanced at her in slight alarm from her exclamation, a brow raised incredulously.

"You can't just _not_ come."

 _"I want you guys to become friends."_ Riley explained. _"And I feel like if I'm there, you both will be fighting for my attention instead of trying to be friends. And I don't want that, so I figured you guys could become better friends if you went stargazing without me."_

"Riley stop. We're already civil. This extra stuff you're doing? Not necessary."

 _"No, you're not. If you were civil, you would have mentioned your conversation this afternoon or at least something of your meeting with him at least once when we were searching for dresses. But you didn't bring up Lucas once."_

"Why would I?" Maya scoffed in annoyance. "It's not like we're friends."

 _"Aha! The truth is revealed!"_ Riley shouted. _"See? Nothing was resolved when you guys spoke this afternoon!"_

And Maya groaned, knowing no matter what she said, even if she and Lucas had actually come to some sort of cease fire, Riley wouldn't believe it.

"Dammit, Riley. Why are you pushing this so much?"

 _"Just stargaze with Lucas. It's not that big a deal. All you have to do is look at the stars. I guarantee it'll help you become friends. Please do this? For me? We can't continue with the rest of the wedding planning if you guys keep fighting."_

"Riley… We're not going to fight anymore. It's been resolved."

 _"Maya, please. You both need second chances to start fresh. To right whatever wrong there is between you guys from the past. This can be that chance."_

Maya sighed but didn't respond, her shoulders slumping as her brows furrowed. Riley sounded serious on the phone, and Maya knew she wasn't going to let this go.

 _"It's not like I'm asking you to fall in love with him or anything. Yeesh. All you have to do is just give each other a chance and become friends. You guys could be really good friends. I know you can. You were never this belligerent towards my other boyfriends back in the past. So why is Lucas any different?"_

"Fine." Maya grumbled under her breath, if only to divert Riley's attention from her question. She couldn't answer that question. "I'll do what you want."

 _"Good. Thank you, Maya. I expect better results or this is going to keep happening until I feel you both are friends."_ Riley giggled. _"I'll see you at home, okay?"_

She ended the call, and Maya set her phone back in her bag with a low growl of annoyance.

Damn Riley and her unrelenting meddling ways.

"So Riley's decided not to participate." Maya stated when Lucas glanced at her, waiting for an explanation of the conversation she'd just had. "Unless we become friends."

"Oh." Lucas said, a slight frown on his face. "Well do you want a ride back to her place, then? We don't have to stay if you don't want to."

"No. It's fine." She shrugged. "I've never seen any real stars. Might as well try to enjoy the experience."

"What?" Lucas' brows rose in disbelief at her declaration. "You've never seen real stars before?"

"I live in New York City. Have lived there my entire life and never traveled anywhere or left the city until now." Maya explained, looking up and staring at the darkened sky, "It's not like stars are particularly visible what with all the light pollution. I've never actually seen a real night sky full of stars."

It was beautiful. All the tiny lights twinkling in the dark haze of the night. From their position on the hill, the stars were close, almost looking like they could fall on top of them any minute. It was like a warm, all-consuming navy blanket studded with diamonds surrounding her.

Maya liked it a lot.

It was almost therapeutic in a sense. A gorgeous sight. It was a shame she couldn't get a view like this in New York.

She could get used to something like this.

"…Well what do you think of it?" Lucas asked, breaking the silence, "Paint worthy?"

"How do you know I paint?" Maya snapped, looking at Lucas suspiciously.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "You told me scenery and nature are your go to for painting that day we ran into each other at the park."

"Oh." Maya was surprised he even remembered that. She was fairly certain she had rambled about her interest in surrealist art that afternoon, but she hadn't recalled telling him about painting. "I'd be nice to paint, I guess. It's calming. I don't know. I guess I could sit here and watch them for a while and try. It'd be interesting to see if I could challenge myself to paint this scene without using the obvious colour scheme of black or white."

"That sounds pretty cool." Lucas said, "And yeah. Same. I like the peace and quiet here. The way the stars just chill. It's relaxing. But Riley always gets restless and bored though. She prefers more active endeavors so we don't normally come out here that often."

"Well that is to be expected. Riley always has been a bundle of hyperactive energy."

Lucas chuckled. "Can't argue with that."

They fell silent, contemplating the sky.

"It's nice." Maya said after a while, "I can see why it could be a favourite spot."

"Even better with beer." Lucas said with a small smile, pulling out two bottles from his bag. "Truce?"

Maya stared at it in slight disbelief when he cracked open the top with the bottle opener on his keys and handed one to her. Then she stared at him as he did the same for his.

"You brought beer?"

"Makes the experience even better."

"Seriously? Isn't there a no alcohol policy in this place?"

"Is there?" he said with a slight smirk, "I've never heard of that."

Maya's brows furrowed. He definitely had to have heard of it. And he definitely had to know, considering he came here often and lived in the city. There was even a sign at the entrance of the park that specifically stated as such. But from the amused gleam in his eyes, she knew he was totally not telling the truth.

"So you brought alcohol anyway in an alcohol prohibited zone. That's not Moral Compass-y of you, _Mr. Perfect_." Maya snorted. "What if you get caught?"

"What's the worse they'll do? Make me pay a fine?"

"Try: _jail you._ " Maya said as she finally took the beer, taking a sip.

Lucas shrugged. "Been there, done that."

Maya did a double take, almost choking on her beer as she heard those words fall from his lips. Her gaze snapped to his in shock as she coughed, eyes wide and jaw slightly slackened.

" _What_?!"

He gave her a small, playful smile, his eyes dancing in the light from the streetlamp nearby them.

"Kidding."

Maya blinked, a little confused. Then she chuckled slightly, shaking her head in mirth and rolling her eyes.

"Wow… Okay, that was pretty good." Maya snorted, "But here I thought you would finally have some substance to your bland Prince Charming image."

"Once again, you undermine a positive statement with negativity." Lucas said, giving her an incredulous look, "You just can't go one minute without insulting me, can you?"

"It's a lifestyle." Maya shrugged patronizingly.

"Lifestyle my ass…" he muttered, returning his gaze to the stars, "You just like insulting me."

"Also true."

Lucas scoffed with a roll of his eyes, and they fell silent, staring up at the stars as they took languid sips of their beers.


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: I'm behind on pretty much all of my school work and studying and all the updates and responding to stuff and I feel like I'm slowly but surely on my way to stress of magnificent proportions, so this is just a quick update, kind of filler before I start advancing the story (get ready ahahah ;3), but my angst loving heart is so messed up right now and everything angst-y I've worked on became waaaay too dark compared to the actual current tone of the stories so I had to stop working on those for a moment. Plus a history prof of mine is assigning multiple essays at once leading up to finals which is another essay and some comprehensive exam which is more than we've ever done! I'm kind of screwed and my mind is acting up, so apologies if any updates are not particularly well put together. I'm struggling just a little bit. Plus my special, favourite teapot which I use every day fell and broke and now I'm sad :/ Urgh… I'm really upset right now :'( [Sorry! I'll try not to complain from now on!]  
**

 **Thank you for all the sweet words and support you all have given me! It means the world and I am glad that you all are entertained by this wacky story! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Do you get drunk off of three beers?"

Maya frowned, glancing away from the sky for a moment and looking at Lucas. She had thought it was a hypothetical question, but he was watching her curiously as if he honestly wanted to know the answer. Plus he had said 'do' instead of 'can'. And she had a feeling she knew exactly why he'd asked.

She shot Lucas an annoyed look.

"Why? Because I'm _small_?"

"I'm just curious."

At least he had the decency to give her a somewhat sheepish smile, as if he was trying to let her know his intentions weren't to mock her or offend her and he was seriously trying to find the answer to the mindboggling question.

"That's a myth. I can hold my liquor very well."

Of course, she'd been drinking since she was a teenager, so her tolerance was pretty high at this rate.

"Right… You can hold your liquor well." he said, a slight sarcastic drawl to his tone.

He looked a little skeptical, giving her a raised eyebrow like he didn't quite believe her declaration, but Maya ignored the look. She guessed it made sense for him to be suspicious. She had thrown up on him after all, but he also didn't know how much she had consumed in the first place. Hell, neither did she if she were to be perfectly honest.

Maya yawned, checking the time on her phone. She was surprised to see they'd been sitting there watching the stars for more than two hours. They hadn't spoken all that much in the duration of that time, just relishing in the peace and quiet comfort that the stars provided. The small choppy conversations they'd had were more focused on general things like work and just general commentary on the nice weather and how gorgeous the sky was. They were fairly neutral conversation topics and Maya was glad for it because she had a feeling anything else and they would probably end up arguing once again.

But despite the fact that she was still partially irritated with him deep down, she found that she wasn't particularly annoyed by his presence. Don't get her wrong; the desire to kick his ass was still very much there and very much present, but it was tampered down because he wasn't particularly antagonizing her. He'd even let her have the rest of the beers he'd packed since he had to drive them back and wasn't planning on drinking more than one. She appreciated the something like a peace offering and actually did end up drinking them all in intervals.

Of course, she did chalk up most of her current happy, peaceful feelings and lack of desire to punch Lucas to her buzz, which she knew she was because of the slight warmth she was feeling in her belly.

But she also felt like they'd been there quite a while now and her limbs were stiff and her neck felt weird from being craned up for so long.

"I guess it's about time we leave." Lucas commented, as if reading her mind. "It's starting to get a little late."

"Yeah." Maya agreed, standing up with a stretch, feeling really satisfied for some reason. "And I still have to start planning the wedding party mixers and getting invites out for tomorrow."

"Mixers?" Lucas asked, standing up as well and stretching, "That sounds fun. What kind of stuff are you planning?"

"Karaoke night at Zay's maybe? Or going out social dancing, I think. Just little things we can all do throughout the summer." Maya shrugged. "They're not going to be huge or anything. It's just little get-togethers so that we can all get to know each other better so the actual wedding isn't awkward if people don't know each other at all."

He nodded. "That's a good idea."

They made their way carefully down the hill, Maya in particular paying attention to every one of her steps because she was a little hazy in the head, and she knew if she misstepped she would take a tumble and land in that muddy little patch of swampy, goopy land at the bottom, and the last thing she wanted to do was fall in that mess.

Maya was thinking about making a comment about finding some way to go around or walk a distance from it because it was kind of foreboding and she got a bad feeling from it, but as soon as the thought crossed her mind, Lucas slid on a slippery point of the hill.

Almost as if in slow motion, she watched as his feet came out from under him and he toppled over with a shout, heading straight for the muddy patch.

It _could_ have been a funny occurrence and Maya _definitely_ would have laughed if on his way down, he hadn't flailed his arms wildly in an attempt to control his certain descent.

And smacked her right in the face.

And then grabbed her dress as if trying to find something to hold onto to stay upright.

And took her down with him.

There was silence as Maya blinked in pain, slightly dazed from the breath knocked out of her body _twice_ , trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. One second she had been standing on the hill, and now she was completely disoriented. It had been a split second occurrence and one that Maya couldn't have even stopped even if she wanted to.

When she came to, she was on her back, partially buried in the slimy mud. She could feel mud on her face and covering her arms and legs too. One of her shoes had fallen off of her feet and she cringed when she flexed her toes and could feel sludge sliding grossly between her toes.

"Shit…" Lucas muttered beside her, pulling himself up to his knees slowly and groaning in slight pain. "Did this really just fucking happen…?"

He wiped mud from his face with the only clean part of the inside of his shirt, looking absolutely shocked over the circumstances. Maya pulled herself up from the suction-y mud with a grunt and sat up, cringing when some of the muck trailed down her dress. Her hair was clumped with mud and plastered to her head and her skin felt heavy and disgusting, smeared with the gunk. When she was upright, she slowly turned her head and glared at Lucas.

She was just so _speechless_ and shocked that she didn't even know what to say and just stared at him, her eye twitching slightly as her irritation mounted.

She wanted to _strangle_ him.

This idiot.

This was a brand new dress and the first time she'd worn it and now it was already ruined before it had a real chance.

"…Wow." Maya said, her teeth grit as she glared at him, "Just wow…"

"Crap…" Lucas slowly stood up and awkwardly walked over to her, reaching down to help her up. "Do you need help getting up?"

Maya was not stupid. Yes, she did need help, but she had no doubt that the momentum it would take to propel her to her feet while Lucas barely had purchase on the ground would only end up with them crashing back into the mud.

"No thanks. I'm not in the mood for taking a nosedive in mud again." She waved his hands away with a roll of her eyes. "You're an idiot. Can you just go get your car so I can get back to Riley's and clean myself up?"

Lucas didn't respond, still looking a little shocked by the turn of events, but he tiptoed carefully out of the mud, trying not to slip as he hurried to go grab his car. Maya groaned, running her hand through her hair and then cringing again as her hand went through clumps of slop in her hair. She pulled herself slowly out of the mud, cursing loudly when she slipped and slid for a few good seconds, arms flying everywhere to try to keep herself upright. She let out a long sigh of relief when she stayed upright.

Oh so slowly, she went over to her other pump, buried in a part of the mud and sticking up. She fished her shoe out of the mud and slipped it on before dragging her feet out and over to the entrance of the park near the parking lot. Some late night joggers and people walking their dogs stared at her, but she ignored them, sullenly waiting as Lucas brought his truck around.

She opened the door and climbed in, plopping atop the blue tarp Lucas had laid out on the seat. She ignored his concerned look and slight apologetic wince as he took in what she looked like. Maya was sure by this point, roadkill looked better.

"Sorry. I know it's uncomfortable, but it's the only thing I have on me to protect the seats."

"It's fine. Just take me to Riley's." Maya muttered crossly.

Maya spent the entire car ride sulking, grinding her teeth and then almost gagging when she could _taste_ the nasty mud in her mouth. This was utterly disgusting. And she blamed both Riley _and_ Lucas for this mess. Maya had told Riley befriending Lucas wasn't a good idea, and it looked like her reservations had been completely founded because now she was dripping in mud and the side of her face felt like it was on fire. She swore if her face swelled up because of this bozo, she was really going to show him what happened to people who truly pissed off Maya Penelope Hart. She hadn't been called Firecracker in high school for nothing. Yes, she was small, but her looks were very deceiving.

After they got to the complex, he walked her to Riley's door. They passed by a few of the people who lived in the complex who glanced at them in amusement and snickered as they walked by. The air was tension filled and heavy with Maya's rage slowly building with each squish of her shoes from her steps as they made their way down the hall.

Why were all these stupid occurrences and crap piling up the longer she stayed in Austin? It had been one bad thing after another since day one, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized the bad things were all revolving around one thing.

Or rather, one _person_.

Things had been crazy ever since the day she met Lucas.

Lucas pressed Riley's doorbell and they waited quietly as footsteps padded through the apartment to the door. The lock unclicked and then Riley swung open the door with a smile. And then her face slowly fell into confusion as she stared at them with wide eyes, her jaw partially unhinged in disbelief. Maya could only imagine what her best friend was seeing since Maya knew they must have looked absolutely crazy with mud clinging to their skin, clothes, and hair.

"Hey Riley." Lucas greeted, his smile more of a grimace than anything else.

"Wha—"

"Don't ask." Maya said sharply.

Riley giggled slightly. "Okay, I won't ask that. But this whole situation that's going on here. Is it because you fought… or…?"

"We didn't fight. … _Yet._ " Maya responded angrily, glaring up at Lucas, "I can't guarantee it won't happen by the end of tonight though."

"Are you guys friends at least?" Riley asked, her nose wrinkling the slightest bit as she continued to observe them warily, "Lucas?"

"Maybe not _friends_." Lucas rubbed the back of his neck, glancing at Maya. "Acquaintances?"

"We're acquaintances." Maya confirmed. "Does that work? So can you please stop scheming and treating us like children, Riley?"

"Good! I'm happy that you both made peace. And of course I'll stop, Maya."

Then Riley stepped back fully in her apartment and shut the door in their faces. Maya's brows immediately furrowed.

"Riley, what are you doing? Let me in. I made up with Lucas, didn't I?"

"And I'm glad you did, Maya." Riley called out from the safety of her apartment, "But no way am I letting you track mud all over the place. Ask Missy if you can use her shower and come back when you're clean."

"Riley, seriously?!"

"Absolutely. Do you know how hard carpet is to clean?"

"Just lay out a path for me to get to the bathroom!"

The only response she received was Riley's giggling on the other side before feet walked away from the door.

Maya turned to Lucas with a glare. "This is your fault!"

"Me?" he said incredulously, "You fell in yourself!"

"Because you hit me in the face and _forced_ the life out of my body! And as if that wasn't bad enough, you dragged me down with you when you grabbed my dress!"

"Is that what that was? Sorry. That was an accident. I thought it was grass."

"First you bust my nose and now you nearly give me a concussion and drag me in mud! Why do I keep getting injured when I'm around you? You're a health hazard!"

Lucas didn't respond for a while, and she thought he was conceding the battle, but as she stared up at him, she slowly realized he was trying to hold back laughter. He was staring down at her, mirth in his eyes and a smile slowly lifting the corners of his lips. He chuckled, looking away momentarily but failing to hide the terribly amused smile on his face.

"You better not be laughing." Maya snarled, stepping closer menacingly, "I'll kick your ass. Don't think I won't."

"I'm sorry…" His shoulders were shaking slightly. "You just look… Your hair… And the squishing…"

And with a snort, he started laughing hard, unable to hold it back anymore.

"Asshole…" Maya growled under her breath.

But he kind of looked funny too with his hair unkempt and sticking up at odd angles everywhere and him being covered in mud. He looked ridiculous, and Maya found herself biting her lower lip to try to keep from laughing.

But it was no use.

Before she knew it, she started laughing with him too, their laughter echoing and cascading down the hallway.


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: Taking one quick break before I try to finish up this 10 page frickin paper (FINALLY) because a friend of mine relayed to me that apparently a certain lovely Julia commented on tumblr that she wanted an update of this and L &W. Can't do L&W until late this week love, buuuuut I had about fifteen minutes to spare on the tram so I wrote this chapter quickly and I'm publishing it right now! (This probably won't happen again though lol, and I'm sorry if this is a dull chappie, but here you are :3)  
**

 **Lol if you guys think it's a tangled mess now, it's going to get worse ;P**

 **Thank you guys for being so sweet! I appreciate all the support and thank you for being so understanding in this time of turmoil! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"So?" Riley asked, turning to Maya when a commercial break came on, "How was stargazing?"

"Civil." Maya responded, sipping her beer and stretching her legs out more on the coffee table as she wiggled her newly painted nails.

Really, she'd outdone herself. The green looked _stellar._

"Civil isn't an answer. I want some details."

"It was fine, Riley." Maya said with a yawn, "We just watched the stars, had a couple beers, and talked about general neutral topics like the weather and a little bit about work. Boring stuff."

She was starting to feel fatigued after finally sending out invites for the get together tomorrow night. Lucas had driven her to Missy's suite after Riley locked her out and thankfully, she'd allowed Maya to take a shower there and then dropped her off back at Riley's since Lucas had to go back to his place and clean himself up. Missy had had a good laugh at them when they were standing in the hallway dripping mud all over the place, but after Maya had threatened to fling mud on her, she had finally stopped and allowed Maya to get inside the hotel room.

"I'm glad you guys are getting along. Because you, me, Missy and Lucas need to meet again tomorrow to handle the wedding details that we never got to discuss at dinner because _someone_ picked a fight with my fiancé."

"Sure, sure." Maya waved off her comment. "Blame me when your fiancé's a dorky idiot."

Riley frowned. "He's not an idiot. Lucas is sweet."

Maya bit down on her tongue to physically keep from retorting her disagreement. She'd been on Riley's back about Lucas long enough. And though she still didn't particularly like him, now was neither the time nor place to bitch about her lingering distaste of his character despite their civil conversation because she was absolutely certain Riley would take that as a sign that her Lucas and Maya BFF plan hadn't worked and she would certainly try to force them together again.

Which Maya wanted to avoid at all costs.

"So I haven't asked you, but how did you and Lucas meet?" Maya asked, changing the subject.

Riley whipped her head around and blinked at her in surprise, her brows a bit high on her forehead in confusion.

"You _want_ to know how I met Lucas?" She put her hand on Maya's forehead, testing to see if it was warm. "Where's Maya Hart and what have you done with her?"

Maya pushed her hand off with an amused roll of her eyes. "I figured if I have to eventually make the MOH speech, I should be well acquainted with the nuances of your relationship. Plus, when you told me you started dating him months ago, I wasn't a very good friend. I never asked you to begin with."

"That is true." Riley commented, changing channels, "In fact, if I remember correctly you made some comment about me wasting my time on some guy who would only exemplify the very definition of the falseness of love. And some other stuff you ranted about for twenty minutes that I tuned out."

Maya chuckled. "Which is exactly why I'm asking now. So lay it on me. I'm ready to listen now. And I promise I won't make any comments about love."

"Well, it was Zay who set us up. I met Zay at this liquor store I went to to send some wine to my parents for their anniversary, but I knew nothing about good wines really, so he helped me figure out the best one for the best price and even haggled a lower deal for me since he knew the owner of the shop." Riley smiled. "He told me he had a really sweet friend who had recently had a bad breakup and was down in the dumps and that I was perfect to help cheer him up with my optimism about life. He mentioned we had a lot in common, and we both were saps and sugary and that he read poetry as well."

"Sweet? Sap? _Sugary_?" Maya snorted incredulously, "What the hell? Does Zay not even know his best friend?"

Maya didn't even know Lucas that well but even with his Prince Charming thing he had going on, he still wasn't at all sappy and sugary. Spicy maybe. But _sweet?_ It made Maya want to crack up laughing.

"Yes, sweet." Riley shot her a look. "Quiet, Peaches. You said you wouldn't make comments."

"About love not existing. It's open season on everything else, especially Lucas."

" _Anyway,_ Lucas and I met up for our blind lunch date. It was love at first sight. I don't think I'd ever fallen for anyone so fast. It was funny though; he didn't really seem torn up about a breakup, and he only really knew about art, not that much about poetry, but I enjoyed the date. It was perfect, and Lucas was the perfect gentleman."

Riley sighed happily and dreamily, and Maya's brows furrowed.

"The perfect gentleman huh…"

He'd put on airs no doubt.

"I got his number and then I called him up a couple days later to see if he wanted to meet, and since then, we just kind of started dating. No pomp or circumstance. We just were." Riley looked really sparkly eyed as she recounted the memories. "I really have to thank Zay. If it weren't for him setting us up, I wouldn't have met my Prince Charming."

"That's cute." Maya said, feigning interest though most (read: all) of her wanted to gag.

Love at first sight was a bullshit notion, and Maya didn't believe for a second that Riley had fallen deeply in love as soon as she'd seen Lucas, because quite frankly, Maya was starting to think that there was a part of Lucas that Riley didn't know. She kept saying he was sweet and nice, but it was as if Riley couldn't find anything wrong with him for some reason. And that wouldn't bode well for the marriage if all of a sudden the revelation sprouted up out of nowhere and she realized she didn't really know her fiancé.

"I know you don't believe me about the love at first sight thing, but trust me, we did fall in love at first sight."

"Whatever you say, pumpkin." Maya stretched her arms over her head. "Think I'm going to hit the sack soon. Oh. And I forgot to tell you, but Farkle said he could photograph your wedding. He'll be coming down as soon as we figure out the rest of the wedding schedule."

Riley stiffened the slightest bit, her brows furrowing.

"…Farkle's coming?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah…" Maya glanced at her. "Why do you sound so worried? Aren't you excited?"

"Yeah. I am. I'm excited." But Riley was staring at the TV with an anxious look on her face. "It's just that… when I called to tell him I was engaged, he was pretty against it."

"Farkle was against your engagement?" Maya frowned. That was news to her. " _The_ Farkle who supports you for everything?"

Riley nodded. "I don't know why though…"

"That's odd…"

"I agree."

But Maya could tell there was something off about Riley's expression. Like she knew _exactly_ why Farkle didn't think she should be engaged. Maya knew that like herself, Farkle wasn't particularly interested in maintaining steady relationships for very long—he pretty much had new girlfriends every couple of weeks from the models he worked with—but he wasn't one to really care about other people's decisions with their relationships like that. Other than his distaste towards long term relationships, she couldn't think of any reason why he would be against Riley's engagement.

"Did you two have a fight when you told him you were engaged?"

"Maybe not a fight…" Riley looked at her hands on her lap. "He told me I was being stupid. So I told him if he really thought so then maybe he shouldn't come to the wedding."

Maya rose a brow in surprise. That wasn't like Riley to say anything like that.

"Harsh much?"

"Probably…" Riley smiled brightly and grinned at Maya, though Maya could tell it was a little tight. "Anyway, I'm glad he's coming to Austin! Can't wait to see him!"

She picked up the remote and started channel hopping once again, but Maya's gaze remained on Riley. There was something off. She didn't know what it was, but she knew there was something off for sure.

Why would Riley respond so angrily and tell Farkle not to come to her wedding from him telling her she was being stupid about the engagement? Maya had said worse stuff to Riley about her relationships numerous times, but she'd never blown up at her. Not to mention Riley would never say anything that harsh to anyone she cared about. She'd had to have been pretty damn mad to say something like that, especially to Farkle, one of her best friends. But now that did explain Farkle's reservations coming to photograph the wedding.

But something didn't add up…

She was certain Farkle and Riley were fighting about something else.

And now Maya wanted to find out what that was.


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: So the amount of bullshitting I did on one of my exams was off the charts. I think I failed one of them. And because of that, I hella need to write right now lol so here's an update before I decide to break a window x3**

 **Alsoooooo… To the 'guest' who called this story shit: Yeeeaaaaah about that. I don't care LOL x'D But you have a nice day, love ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ  
**

 **Thank you all for always being so supportive! I appreciate all the kind words you all have given me! It means so much! :D  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Okay. So can we keep the fights to a bare minimum?" Missy asked, giving Lucas and Maya pointed looks as she flipped open her notepad. "Let's try to make this as agreeable as possible this time, okay?"

"We'll be fine, Missy." Maya rolled her eyes, taking another sip of her mocha frap. "I don't have the itch to break his nose anymore. Right now, anyway…"

Lucas rolled his eyes before sighing under his breath in exasperation.

"Good!" Riley said cheerfully, "So we left off last time on main wedding colours."

Maya nodded, scribbling on her own pad. "You wanted purple as the main, right?"

"Actually, Riley and I had decided on blue before you intervened." Lucas said with a frown.

Maya stopped writing, glancing up at him slowly with a slightly raised brow. Missy groaned, setting her pen on the table as she watched the brewing tension.

"Here we go again…" Missy grumbled.

"I find that hard to believe when Riley's never really been fond of the colour. You sure she actually wanted blue?"

Lucas' eyes narrowed. "She said she didn't mind."

"Did she, now?" Maya turned to Riley. "Well Riley? Did you actually want blue or did you just go with it? I thought you wanted purple."

Riley giggled nervously, rotating the ring on her finger anxiously. "W-well they're both really nice colours. We could just do both?"

" _No_."

Lucas and Maya said simultaneously, glaring at each other.

Missy smiled sympathetically at Riley. "Riley, blue and purple works in some cases, but I'm not so sure about this wedding since it's summer based. You'll have to ask Maya; she's the expert."

"I think _purple_ would work better, and Riley clearly prefers that colour." Maya said through grit teeth.

"We already decided on _blue_." Lucas replied in the same tone.

"Oh." Maya snarked, leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "You sure about that? Or did _you_ decide on blue?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You know what? I think I need another latte." Riley shook her head and stood from the table, heading quickly over to the counter to order.

"I think you know what it means." Maya said lowly.

"Ummm… guys?" Missy said.

"No, I don't think I do. Please. Enlighten me."

"Guys."

"I think it's pretty obvious. Your mom is paying for the wedding. It would only make sense that _you_ get to dictate everything, right?"

" _Guys_."

"Are you insinuating that my family is monopolizing the wedding choices just because we're paying for it?"

" _Guys!_ "

"Sure seems that way to me." Maya snarled. "Your venue, your colours, you picked the original date. And Riley is getting dragged along for the ride by your controlling family."

There was a sharp glint in Lucas' eyes, something a little dangerous as he slowly leaned forward, his eyes narrowed as he glared at Maya.

"And it sure seems to me…" he said calmly, a hard edge to his voice, "that you're certifiably fucked up. My mom knows a good doctor. It's not too late for you, you know? You can still get help."

Maya felt her anger flare, and she grit her teeth, slowly leaning forward and utterly tempted to grab Lucas' shirt and throw him into the next town.

" _What_?"

"You heard me."

" _GUYS_!" Missy barked before their argument could get any worse than it already was. They both jumped in surprise at her sudden outburst, turning to look at Missy. "Would you both chill the fuck out?! I get that you're mad at each other, but damn! Do you both need a time out?"

"Missy—"

"Look, this is the second time you both have set back our negotiations for the wedding. We're already behind schedule, Maya. We need to figure out this main wedding stuff right now so we can start figuring out the details so when we meet with Lillian on Monday, we actually have a plan and don't look like a pair of bumbling idiots!" Missy snapped. "You two dumbasses need to fix whatever this issue is before Riley comes back, or I'm going to fuck you both up. So _talk_. What's your problem with each other?"

"I thought we'd worked out the issues. That was the whole point of burying the hatchet, wasn't it?" Lucas gave Maya a pointed look.

"We didn't work out anything, Huckleberry. The truce was me letting go of your stupid flirting incident."

"So then why are you still so angry?"

"Because you're dictating pretty much everything in the wedding! Don't you think Riley should get to choose something? That she should have her first choice?"

"We both wanted the blue though."

"It's not just about the colours." Maya said sharply, "Riley is a people pleaser. She's always going to try to please others because she wants to be liked. If something makes you happy, obviously she's going to do everything in her power to make that thing happen for you because she loves you. But she neglects her own wants in the process. I am _not_ a people pleaser. In fact, I hate pretty much everyone except for my family."

Missy gave her a wounded look.

"I consider you family, Missy." Maya clarified and Missy smiled, pleased. "So I'm telling you this, Lucas, not because I'm trying to rock any boats, but because I love Riley. Because I'm the only one who forces her to wake up and stop trying to be a people pleaser all the time. To take what she wants."

"Your point? What does Riley being a people pleaser have to do with our wedding?"

"She had a fantasy, Lucas. A fantasy of a dream wedding amongst the Disney characters at Disneyworld. She wanted to ride in a carriage like a princess with whoever she married showing up on a white horse. She wanted Donald Duck as her ring bearer. She wanted to get married in the castle. It was her biggest wish and dream. And now she's getting married on a ranch. Talk about a dream ruthlessly shattered."

His brows rose in surprise. "I didn't know."

"Like I said a few days ago. You never cared to find out."

"Well how was I supposed to figure that out when she basically says everything is okay? She always has a smile on her face no matter what so I can't tell when she's not okay with something. I never knew she wasn't happy with the decision. I mean, regardless, it's kind of a farfetched dream for a wedding. How would she have known whether or not her future groom would have wanted that?"

"It's called having hope, Sundance. That's why I'm adamant that she should get to choose at least something that's close to her dream. It's not just because I'm trying to be against you, although it's not a lie that I don't like you."

"So you've said for probably the thirtieth time." Lucas rolled his eyes.

"I just want Riley to have her dream wedding. That's all that matters to me."

"Well doesn't my dream wedding count for something too?" Lucas asked, his eyes narrowed in annoyance, "There are _two_ people getting married, you know?"

Maya and Missy stared at him in surprise.

"What? Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean I haven't imagined a perfect wedding? I want this day to be great for me too. It's a pretty big step in my life, and I want to remember it as being special for me as well. I count in these wedding plans too. Yes, Riley's desires for a wedding are important, but mine are too. I would have thought the wedding planner would be more objective in the negotiations and consider both sides."

Maya's brows rose, a little stunned by his declaration. Lucas had a point. She'd unconsciously decided to exclude him from the plans. She was so used to dealing with weddings where the groom basically had 'yes dear' syndrome and just let the bride choose and run everything on her own that she'd forgotten that it was supposed to be mutual decisions. Plus, there was her fierce loyalty to Riley. Well, that and the fact that Lucas irritated her. So naturally, she'd only focused on Riley. She wasn't doing her job right as a wedding planner. If Harper saw her right now, she'd have her head.

"…You're right." Maya muttered.

Missy gasped dramatically. "Did _Maya Hart_ just say someone else was right?!"

Even Lucas looked a little shocked, the scowl on his face slowly loosening as he stared at her in confusion. He had probably been expecting her to fight him.

"I'm sorry." Maya continued.

Missy gasped again, this time bringing her hand to her heart. "Oh my God… she _apologized_! Either the world is ending or you're dying, Maya. Which is it?"

"Shut up, Missy." Maya rolled her eyes. "But it's true, Ranger Rick. I wasn't doing my job right. You count in this wedding too."

"Oh." He looked seriously taken aback, and Maya had to fold her lips in to hide the fact that she was about to laugh at the expression on his face. "Thank you."

Maya nodded. "I'll stop trying to push for only Riley's dream wedding. But can you do me a favour, in that case?"

"Yeah. I guess?"

"You and Riley need to figure out how to combine this thing because both of you have _very_ different ideas of what is a perfect wedding, and they couldn't be on more opposite sides of the spectrum. And you need to find a way to reconcile what you both want otherwise I can't put it together."

"Okay."

"I understand circumstance and the wedding being on the ranch is going to make things a little harder to include what Riley wants, but I know all of Riley's fantasies, Lucas. And every time I see yet another dream that she has to give up for her wedding, it hurts me too."

"So we compromise then."

"Yeah. You and Riley should talk it out—alone—before we continue on with this, otherwise, you know I'll keep getting on your case. And do not let her back off. She's going to try to let it go, and you can't let her."

"Okay." He stood up, heading over to where Riley was waiting for her drink.

Maya leaned back in her chair with a sigh and running a hand through her hair. After a few moments, she realized Missy was staring at her, grinning proudly. Maya rose a brow, looking at her perky friend.

"What?"

"I'm proud of you, Maya. This is the first time I've ever seen you let go of that bullheadedness of yours."

"Yeah, yeah."

"What made you stop fighting him?"

"I don't know…" Maya glanced at Lucas near the counter. "He just seemed really offended…"

"Holy shit!" Missy said, her tone sarcastic, "You felt bad. That's _remorse_ , Maya. It's sympathy for another human being."

"I know what it was, Missy." Maya deadpanned, giving her a dry look. "You act like I'm the damn Wicked Witch of the West or something."

"It's happening!" Missy ignored her. "Your ice-y heart made of stone is finally melting! You sympathize with other humans now!"

"You're a pain in my ass."

"You didn't deny it, though." she singsonged.

Maya rolled her eyes but even she couldn't help the small smile that came on her face.


	35. Chapter 35

**A/N: I get that some of you guys think this story is slow, but as I've mentioned, it is a _slow build_ story. No developments in the story will be erratic or swift. Sorry if that disappoints you, but slow developments with this story work out much better, trust me, otherwise it would be extremely rushed. Plus, there are specific emotional conflicts that couldn't be worked out in one or two chapters. But don't worry lol, this is the sort of turning point of the story in a way. You'll see ;3  
**

 **Thank you for the kind reviews! I appreciate all of your inquiries and sweet words and thank you for your patience! I hope you all have had lovely weekends (and if you're on break now, I hope you have amazing breaks!) :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Alright. So we can finally get that order in for the invites to be made since we have the completed guest lists." Missy said, putting a small check mark on her memo pad. "Good work, Hart."

"You too, Bradford."

In the end, the deliberations had worked out well. Lucas and Riley had compromised. Lucas had given up the blue so Riley could have her purple. They'd both agreed that the green did add some kind of fairy tale touch to it in a way. And thankfully, they'd dropped the idea of the cowboy and cowgirl theme for the bridesmaids and groomsmen.

The two had left to go out for lunch a while ago, but Maya and Missy stayed behind at the coffee house to finalize their schedule for the planning now that the decisions had progressed. They'd had a very productive meeting with Lucas and Riley and managed to get a lot of the details sorted out. They were pretty much all set for their meeting with Lillian. And from there, it would be fairly easier going.

"So how are you holding up?" Maya asked, "Thought I should ask since you've finally decided to come back to work."

"Half okay and half not. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever find love again." Missy muttered, picking at her fingernails. "I mean all around me, relationships are destroyed one by one. Or they just don't work out. It's hard to think positive in that sense."

"That's the way life works. People aren't interested in making those long term commitments." Maya twirled her pen between her fingers. "What's the point of opening yourself up to possible heartbreak?"

"Because if you find your soulmate—the right guy—it can be beautiful."

"That's absolute garbage. It's that type of crap that's the reason why my mother ended up in so many horrible relationships, no thanks to my deadbeat dad, of course."

Missy stared at her, something rueful in her gaze. "…Do you sometimes wonder if your family life was different you might have been more accepting to find love?"

Maya knew she would have been. After all, she wouldn't have had that mindset if her father hadn't walked out on them when she was younger. If he hadn't been addicted to his pills and hard drugs and alcohol. If he hadn't become who he had, a verbally and psychologically abusive asshole who used Katy and Maya both for target practice whenever he needed to vent his frustrations. If her mother hadn't become dependent on him from the way he'd behaved. If her mother hadn't become dependent on all the guys she would continuously date. If her mother hadn't ended up in one crappy relationship after another, Maya having to be there each time to pick up the pieces when Katy got hurt. She'd grown up with prime examples of why love was not only destructive, but also a damn illusion. Lust disguised in such a way that would only lead to unbelievable pain.

"Yes, but would I be better off is the real question. You see what Riley has become. Her family is perfect, and she's a little naïve about love and wears her heart on a sleeve." Maya said, staring a hole into the table, her fists clenching as she recalled the way she had grown up. "And then there's me, fucked up because of all the horrible relationships I've seen. But truth be told, I would rather be me than possibly get hurt like Riley almost did if it hadn't been for me watching out for her all these years. So many guys tried to use Riley, so I made sure they stayed away. And that's why I'd rather be my cynical self. I mean, if I wasn't, who else could protect Riley? She hasn't seen or experienced the things I have. And I want to keep it that way."

"You know…" Missy said slowly, "I've been thinking. Maybe most of your dislike for Lucas isn't _just_ the fact that he flirted with you as Riley's fiancé. I think you got over that a long time ago. And your behaviour towards him just seemed really over the top for what he did."

Maya rose a brow, her lips pursed in annoyance.

"I think why you're actually mad is because he's taking Riley away from you. Now that she has someone to watch out for her, you're uncertain where your role will play out in the future with her. Because you've been taking care of Riley just as much as she's been taking care of you all these years, and now that's ending and you don't know what to do about it, so you're frustrated, and you picked the easy target to direct your anger towards. The one who you deem wronged you, almost wronged Riley, but especially, the one who is breaking up Honey and Peaches. Lucas."

"You're annoying, Missy." Maya looked out the window, avoiding Missy's gaze and tapping her pen against the table.

"Just observant."

Maya rolled her eyes.

"Have you talked to Riley about these concerns of losing her?"

"She knows."

"Does she know the extent with which you have these issues though? Because it sounds to me like you feel a little lost."

"The only way these issues I'm having will stop is if she ends her marriage. But that's not going to happen, and I'm not so selfish that I would ask her to do any such thing like that." Maya sighed. "If I tell her my concerns though, the only thing she'll tell me is that she wants us both in her life and that I should try to get along with Lucas because we could apparently be best friends. But that doesn't pacify anything for me."

"Then… have you considered telling Lucas these fears?"

Maya's nose wrinkled in disgust. "Why the hell would I tell that Huckleberry dork about this?"

"Because you at least owe it to him to give him a proper explanation why you've been so vitriolic towards him these past few days. Plus, he might be able to help. You never know. Because this thing you're doing to Riley where you're trying to pit her against her fiancé and make her choose sides? It's not okay."

Maya pursed her lips in annoyance. She hated to admit it, but she knew Missy was right. She was making things for Riley harder. Over selfish motivations no less.

"You have to realize that he's going to be part of your lives now. Whether you want him to be or not. So just give him a chance to show that you can all coexist as a trio. The more you antagonize him, the harder it will be for Riley. As her maid of honour, you shouldn't be making things harder. You should be helping her to stay unstressed."

"I know… I'll stop bugging her. I'll be a better friend."

"Good." Missy closed her laptop and stuck it back in her bag, gathering up some of her papers so she could take her leave. "Now that that's settled, I'm going to go on another shopping spree. I won't stop until that damn credit card can no longer pay for shit."

"Missy, look. Your whole shop 'til you drop thing clearly isn't helping." Maya gave her a pointed look. "You need to surround yourself with other people, distract yourself by talking to people so you can forget about the breakup. It'll help you get over it much faster and better than your current irrational plan. Come social dancing with the wedding party tonight. It'll be fun. You can meet new people."

Missy's brows furrowed. "I don't know, Maya… I don't want to intrude."

"You won't be. We're going to a tango club anyway, so there'll be other people there too. C'mon. I know you need the chance to unwind. If you say no, I'll order you as your boss to come."

"You can't do that." Missy snorted. "But fine. I'll come tonight if you promise to talk to Lucas sometime about this 'I don't want to let Riley go' thing."

Maya glared at Missy, but she just picked at her fingernails indifferently.

"You know, you used to be way less annoying when we first became partners."

"Yeah, well this is what happens when you have to deal with you for so long."

Maya began to gather her own stuff as well so they could leave.

"…I'll talk to him tonight."

"Then I'll be there."


	36. Chapter 36

**A/N: Hi Maya Peaches! It's definitely a Lucaya story. Trust me, love :3  
**

 **I cut this chapter weirdly just because I thought it was too long as a whole, but this is Part One of this specific chapter.  
**

 **All of you guys are beautiful people and don't you dare ever forget that. (Just wanted to say that because sometimes we all need a reminder). Thank you for all your support guys! I appreciate the sweet comments and the lovely words you have for me! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Choosing social dancing at a community center on free tango night hadn't just been a plan to get the wedding party together to converse and get to know each other. It had also been a calculated move on Maya's part so people could practice ballroom dancing for the actual wedding. Some of them were completely clueless, like Wyatt and Darby. Billy was a little lost too as was the disgruntled Smackle.

But of them all, Zay was absolutely the best. Most everyone was shocked when he had easily done the steps from the first time they'd learned a few of them. She found out from Zay that he used to do ballet and took ballroom to help his balance. In addition Charlie's, Zay's, and Lucas' mothers had forced them all to take ballroom lessons for many years. They had the most experience and had been helping the others.

The rest of the party was doing fine, and Maya's plan was succeeding since some of them partnered up with each other when they had the chance to chat.

Maya had been making her rounds, circulating around and making sure everyone was having a good time and introducing herself to the people she didn't know. When Missy had given her a pointed look, Maya had pretended like she was doing it to be polite, but she knew the real reason was because she was trying to hold off on talking to Lucas. She really didn't want to discuss this thing. It was kind of embarrassing. But she knew Missy would interfere and start pulling strings if she didn't keep up her end of the bargain.

Maya walked over to the chairs on the side, sitting down next to Zay who was just watching the crowded room as people practiced the steps that Margeaux, the instructor, had shown them.

"Why aren't you dancing?"

Zay shrugged, taking a sip from his water bottle. "Felt like taking a break. Watching the mess."

They watched as Jade accidentally stepped on the foot of someone she had been dancing with and Maya and Zay both grimaced.

"This was a really good idea, Maya. Think how bad this could have been bad if the day of the wedding came and people hadn't learned this."

"Yeah. I've seen it happen in weddings before. The maid of honour tore the bride's dress when she couldn't get the steps right."

Zay snorted in amusement, drinking some more water as he leaned back in his chair.

Maya watched Charlie try to help Sarah get one of the steps, explaining it to her carefully. Charlie had definitely been the most accommodating about the people who couldn't seem to get it that easily. He was pretty patient and very nice to wait until he was sure the person got it. It made her wonder how he could possibly be best friends with Zay in their little trio since their personalities clashed.

"You know, I've been thinking. What's up with your trio of best friends? You're unbalanced. You've got Mr. Perfect Prince Charming, you've got Mr. Wisecracking Smartass. You." She gave Zay a pointed look. "And then there's Mr. Sweetheart Nerd. Too much nice."

"Who the fuck is Mr. Perfect supposed to be? I certainly hope you are not talking about Lucas."

"I was."

Zay laughed so hard, his water almost squirted out of his nose.

"Maya, stop playing. You of all people should _know_ Lucas is not perfect." Zay wiped his mouth. "And especially not back when we were in school. He got in fights all the time. Granted, he was more like a Batman type person who protected those he cared about rather than a delinquent, but still. He thinks that acting like this gentleman is how he's supposed to be, but anyone who knows him can see that holding his real self back is more stressful. At least you're a good outlet for stress relief though."

Maya wanted to say she was totally surprised, but the fact of the matter was, she wasn't. Not in the least. Because she had already known. She had already suspected it.

"A good outlet?"

"To let off some steam with. Every time he talks to you, he doesn't put on airs. That sparkle comes back in his eyes."

Maya gave him a weird look.

"You know? That twinkle? That smoulder? That look like he's about to eat you?" Zay waggled his eyebrows. "And by eat, I mean—"

" _Stop_." Maya rolled her eyes. "There's no sparkle. And I'm glad to know I'm apparently a punching bag for his temper."

Zay rose a brow at her with a small smile on his lips. "Right… _Punching bag_. Well I'm calling it now."

"Calling what now?"

"You'll see," he responded cryptically.

"Zay you're annoying as hell."

"So are you, sugar. I lost about a day's worth of profits after you came in my bar. You're going to drink me into bankruptcy if you ever come back. So you've been banned."

"Whatever, you dumbass."

Zay's response was interrupted by an _ow!_ that resounded through the air. They both glanced at Lucas near them, who had unfortunately gotten his feet trodden upon by Riley once again. Maya grimaced. That was the third time in the past couple of minutes.

The thing about Riley was that she tried and she wasn't terrible, but because of her clumsy nature, she tended to trip on her feet. And that was the main reason why Maya had made this the social gathering event of the evening. To get Riley to practice some more dancing in heels because it wouldn't do if her wedding dance ended with her tumbling into the cake and tearing her dress.

"Not like that." Margeaux said, rubbing her temples in irritation. "You're trampling on his feet like a herd elephant…"

"Sorry…" Riley apologized sheepishly. "How are you so good at this, Lucas?"

"I was forced to take lessons when I was younger," Lucas said with a smile. "It's alright. You'll get it."

"Not before his toes fall off…" Zay muttered.

Maya couldn't help her snort. She made the mistake of looking briefly around the room. Her eyes met Missy's and she gave Maya a blank stare, a brow arched expectantly. She was clearly still waiting for Maya to tell Lucas her concerns. Maya sighed, looking away.

"That's it! I can't take this anymore. You need to see a live dance so I can point out to you what you need to fix." Margeaux tugged Riley away from Lucas. "You. Blonde woman sitting over there. Come dance with this young man and show her how it's done."

Maya stiffened, her brows rising in surprise. Zay glanced at Maya in amusement.

"What are you going to do now?" Zay asked patronizingly.

"I'm good, thanks." Maya replied to Margeaux. "Besides, I can't dance either. And I can't dance in these heels, they're too high."

"Maya, you practically live in heels." Riley gave her a look. "You were doing fine all of tonight. I saw you."

"I've seen _men_ dance hip hop in heels higher than those. You'll be fine." Margeaux said. "Besides, I've been watching you. Great technique."

"I'm really not good at it." Her eyes briefly met Lucas' who was looking a little anxious. "Not good at all."

"Please Maya?" Riley asked her. "I know you know how to do this. You took some tango classes in college. Help me? I don't want to embarrass myself at the wedding."

"Fine…" Maya finally grumbled, rising up from her seat and ignoring Zay's borderline ecstatic look.

She approached them slowly, wondering why it felt like she was on the chopping block.

Great. The exact person she'd been trying to avoid, she could no longer avoid.

Maya walked up to Lucas and placed a hand on his shoulder, the other clasped in his free hand as they set themselves in the proper hold for a tango. It was awkward and neither of them had particularly pleased expressions on their faces.

"Pay attention to where Maya is placing her hand on his shoulder. See her foot placement?" Margeaux explained to Riley. "That is about as close as the feet will get."

Maya glared at Lucas, wishing that this whole thing could be over already. Lucas had an uneasy look on his face and was looking out of the window, loosely holding her hand. They were both feeling uncomfortable about this and Zay—that jerk—was snickering over by the chairs, laughing at their predicament.

"Will you stop looking at me like you want to rip off my balls and force feed them to me?" Lucas finally said, glancing down at her.

"But I do," she said faux sweetly.

"Can't you at least chill out right now?"

"No. Not in this situation. You're too close—"

"Not my fault. We're demonstrating."

"—and your hand is too low on my back. Lift it up."

He narrowed his eyes. "This is where it's supposed to be."

"I don't like it there. Lift it up or your shin will suffer as will your toes. I'm not afraid to use these heels."

He rolled his eyes and lifted his hand further up her back.

"No no no!" Margeaux barked. "Put your hand lower! Lower back, fingertips past the spine. Yes, just like that. And get closer. A tango is supposed to be intense and intimate and passionate. Like sex with clothes on!"

"Okay, we're done here." Maya let go of Lucas abruptly, taking a wide step back and feeling a blush rise to her cheeks.

"Yeah." Lucas looked uncomfortable.

"Guys c'mon!" Riley said, putting her hands on her hips. "Do you want me tripping on my own feet?! Get back in position."

Maya closed her eyes with a sigh of defeat, stepped back up to Lucas and assumed the position again at a fairly far distance. Margeaux put her hands on both their backs and forced them closer until Maya was almost pressed up against him and the only thing her nose was filled with was the scent of his cologne.

"Good. Romeo! Play some music!" Margeaux's smile grew as she clapped her hands. "Now! Everybody dance! Dance!"

Lucas and Maya's gazes both snapped to Margeaux incredulously.

"What?!"

"Dance or I'm kicking you both out of my class." She growled ominously.

"Maya, just dance! I need to watch and learn." Riley said.

"You learn best from _practicing_ and trying the moves yourself." Maya argued.

"Not if you're stepping on your partner's feet every ten seconds." Margeaux drawled. "Now dance! Dance!"

Maya sighed and turned back to Lucas who was watching her patiently, waiting for her to make up her mind.

"So I guess we're…?"

"Yeah." she grumbled. "We're dancing."


	37. Chapter 37

**A/N: Part two of the previous chapter!**

 **Man I had so much trouble writing this. Use your imagination because I sure as hell have no idea what I was writing… Do you know how difficult it is to write any kind of dance scene?!**

 **All of you guys are beautiful people and don't you dare ever forget that. (Just wanted to say that because sometimes we all need a reminder). Thank you for all your support guys! I appreciate the sweet comments and the lovely words you have for me! :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

If someone had told Maya she would end up dancing a tango with the same guy she currently would prefer not being in his presence, she would have laughed. Lucas should have counted himself lucky that this wasn't happening earlier that week when she had been furious with him. He would definitely have suffered some bodily harm by now.

"Why are you trying to lead?" Lucas said in annoyance, cutting off her very deliberate motions by taking a wider step.

Maya's eyes narrowed as she was basically forced to match him.

"Because I'm a better lead than you."

"Seriously?"

"Defini—"

He spun her sharply without prelude and Maya nearly yelped as she cascaded out from his arms, her skirt rising from the speed of her twirl before he pulled her back to him. He was smirking in amusement when she met his gaze.

"Sorry, what was it you were saying?"

He wanted to play, huh? Fine, Maya would take the bait.

She switched up their easy quick-slow step strides, curling her legs around his as she forced him to follow her or trip. Lucas' eyes narrowed as she complicated the footwork, twisting and turning with quick succession. He kept up with her fairly easily, anticipating her decisions and reacting accordingly. She knew it was a fight. They both were trying to make the other fail in their own ways.

"So what's up with the sudden 'I hate Lucas' thing again?" Lucas said. "I thought we were on the road to becoming friends."

Of course he would ask that. Maya said nothing, staring at his Adam's apple and trying not to think about the scent of his cologne.

"Maintain eye contact!" Margeaux barked angrily.

"You heard her," he said cheekily.

Maya could just make out his smug smirk in her peripheral vision. She lifted her gaze, glowering at him in annoyance.

"Missy told me earlier that you have something to tell me about why you're mad at me."

Damn her. Maya should have known she would take matters into her own hands anyway.

"I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Then when?" Lucas asked sincerely. "Look, I don't know if I did something to you again, but I thought we were making progress before the whole mud bath thing. And I don't know, but it was kind of nice to have at least one conversation with you without fighting."

Maya sighed, hooking her leg around his waist, and leaned against his side, letting him trail her a short distance across the floor before she let go and they continued their simple steps and pivots, only punctuated by Maya changing up the rhythm of her twists with her feet.

"Tell me the problem. I promise I'll listen and won't judge."

"Okay. The truth is, I'm scared of losing Riley. It's been her and me for the past who knows how many years. And now you're in the picture and suddenly it's you, me, and Riley. And I didn't like that. I still don't like that. Because I don't know what that means for my relationship with Riley. She won't need me anymore. And I don't want to lose her. That's why I'm still mad at you. Stupid. I know."

"It's not stupid. I understand what you're saying. It's kind of like a parent remarrying or dating someone new when they'd been single for so many years. All of a sudden there's someone new in the family and it's hard to adjust when you've lived your life one way for so long."

"Right. Like that."

"In any case, you won't lose her, Maya. Do you know how many times she talks about you?" Lucas said with a small smile. "Our first date, she was so nervous. I asked her about her friends hoping she would loosen up and then she spent a good ten minutes just talking about you and your interests."

Maya frowned. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah. She brings you up at least once in every conversation. By the end of our date, I knew more about you than Riley to be honest."

"I didn't know."

"Look, she cares about you way more than she cares about me even if we're about to get married. I don't think that will never change. She'll put you first no matter what, Maya. I have no doubt if she had the choice to save only me or only you, she'd save you. Every time. There's no reason for you to feel threatened. I'm not trying to break up your friendship. I just want to be part of your family too."

Maya stared at him, not sure how to respond. She'd been absolutely antagonistic towards him. And she really did feel bad now. He was actually pretty nice in some ways. And what he said had honestly helped alleviate her fears.

"I always thought from what Riley had said about you that we would get along. You seemed pretty interesting." Lucas continued. "And then I found out you were Chihuahua."

Maya rose a menacing brow, and he laughed. At least until she kicked her leg purposely high, a little too close to comfort between his legs. Lucas took a small step back, well disguised as an actual step, though Maya knew he had been trying to evade possible pain.

"I didn't expect you to be the same person. Since then, you consistently made it clear you hated me."

"I guess I was kind of petty." Maya admitted. "But I'm just really protective."

"And there's nothing wrong with that. But I'm also protective. And we both want to protect the same person. Instead of fighting each other, why not work together?"

Maya's eyebrows furrowed in surprise from his comment. He was right.

"…Never thought of it that way."

"Because you're stubborn." Lucas said matter of factly.

Her eyes narrowed. "You're stubborn too."

"Not as bad as you though."

"Really?" Maya scoffed.

"You were so much worse." Lucas said. "You wouldn't let the mistake go."

"Because it was a bad mistake! You flirted with your fiancée's best friend. Hell, you flirted with someone else period."

He rolled his eyes in exasperation, guiding Maya backwards before she pivoted and twisted her legs around his, forcing him to stop otherwise he'd trip on her leg. Lucas' gaze darkened in annoyance, from their argument or her decision to lead, she didn't know.

"Bringing this argument back again I see. What happened to the truce we made?"

"Okay, hell no. You started it when _you_ brought it up in the first place! I'm not just going to sit here and let you have the last word when you're wrong."

"You know what? Fine. Let's do this." Lucas said with a sneer on his face. "You keep playing the victim card as if you're bugged by me flirting but it's not because of Riley. You know what Zay told me? You were mad because you were interested in me."

Maya's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"No I was not."

Lucas eyed her as she turned on her heel, stubbornly stepping in the opposite direction from him and refusing to make it easy for him to guide her. He tugged her hand a bit hard, yanking her body back to his and stopping her attempts to lead again by anchoring her with his arm around her back.

"Yes you were," he said through grit teeth. "You told Zay while you were drunk off your ass. And that's why you were mad. Admit it."

Maya made a mental note to kick Zay's stupid ass for not knowing how to keep secrets.

"Okay then. So what? The bubble burst and I realized you're just like every other guy."

"Cut me some slack, I'm not perfect."

He steered them in smooth, easy quick-slow steps, barely giving Maya any chances to try to break free from his tight hold and switch things up a bit. She let him lead, biding her time for when he would slip.

"Well Riley sure seems to think so. You ever plan on telling her the truth?"

"The truth about what?"

"Your temper, your not so perfect Mr. Perfectness. Your façade. Your villainy—"

"It's not like I'm some story book villain." He rolled his eyes. "I'm a normal guy."

"—the truth that you're putting on airs and acting sweet and charming when you're nothing like that. And yes, in my world you're a villain."

"Oh really," he said dryly. "A bad guy, huh? Even though I haven't really done anything."

"You're the big bad wolf. A misleader. You're like those glass slippers from Cinderella."

Lucas stepped far back, sliding his leg behind him into a lunge and pulling Maya with him. She gasped as she fell forward, having no choice but to nearly slide into a split, wrapping her arm quickly around his neck. Her other hand tightly gripped the hand holding her on instinct, and she briefly contemplated sinking her nails into his hand.

"You sound like you're drunk, you know?" Lucas muttered. "And how are the glass slippers misleading?"

The asshole. He had an amused gleam in his eyes, as if he thought he had the upper hand from his little stunt. Did he think that was funny?

"How? They gave Cinderella false hope and created an illusion of a princess for the prince. Their relationship is based on lies."

Lucas straightened, pulling Maya up slowly with him, and she inhaled sharply when they ended up almost completely pressed against each other, gazes locked. He stared down at her for a moment like she was nuts, and Maya took the chance to take control again. She stepped forward, planting her leg between his and forcing him to step back if he didn't want to lose his balance. They carried on with their steps, even paced, slightly challenging, their motions punctuated by their argument.

"Except that he realized she _was_ his true love after he found her in rags and she had the other slipper. He still wanted her."

"Because he was looking for _a_ girl who could fit the shoe. Not her specifically. She just happened to fit the bill. He only wanted her originally because she was hot. Nothing more, nothing less. The guy was a horny fuck. Why else would he have tried to kiss an unmarried maiden in some secluded location in the middle of the night without any supervision?"

Lucas gave her an incredulous look. "He fell for her because of how charming and kind she was when they were promenading, not just because she was beautiful. There were lots of other pretty girls at the ball he could have also danced with, but he had no interest. Cinderella held his interest because of her personality."

"So why were all eyes on her at the ball the second she walked in? That just proves my point that he only wanted her when he saw her because she was the hottest chick there. Prince Charming was a douche. If they wanted to emphasize the point that it wasn't her beauty he fell for but her lovely personality, they shouldn't have given her the extreme makeover—"

"That defeats the purpose of the story."

"—It doesn't matter. Had the shoe not fit, she would still be a maid in her household and the prince would never have noticed her. The shoes were trickery, and he fell for it hook, line, and sinker. True love my ass. It was all based on a lie as love is prone to be."

Maya wondered how stupid they had to sound arguing about a damn fairy tale. Lucas spun her out and Maya's hair flew around her as she swung away until he snapped her back to him, her back to his chest.

"Here we go again. Your love doesn't exist bullshit. You know what I've noticed…" Lucas said, right beside her ear. Maya tried to pretend she didn't feel the goosebumps rising on her neck when she could feel the tufts of his breath on her shoulder. "I don't think Riley is the only one who believes in fairy tales and love."

She broke roughly away from him, swivelling on her heel and glaring at him as she stepped back into his arms.

"I don't believe in love."

"Yes you do."

She purposely tried to squash his toes. Lucas evaded it by stepping past her and forcing her to accept the plunge backwards. He dragged her up, and Maya growled under her breath.

"You really want to fight me on this, Huckleberry? You'll lose. And you'll get a knee to the crotch for it too. Might want to back down."

He swung her out again, twirling her back into his arms until they were pressed flush against each other. She curled a leg around his thigh and he dipped her slowly, leaning over her with an indecipherable look on his face.

"This guard and cynicism that you put up isn't because you really hate love. It's because you're scared of it. You're scared of what it could do to you and the people around you that you care about."

Maya clammed up, stiffening as she stared up at him, frozen in place from his declaration.

"…You don't know shit about me, Huckleberry." She snarled, hating the fact that he had a total upperhand and there was no way she could get out of his hold short of physical violence.

And even then, her back was arched too far, and he was keeping her in place with his arms.

"No doubt something in your past made you think and realize that love can hurt people if used the wrong way. So you're terrified of it. Not because you don't want it. But because you don't want to get hurt. And I'm willing to bet it probably has to do with your parents or something."

The music came to an end, but Maya could do nothing but stare up at him in shock, her heart suddenly pounding hard in her chest as her eyes widened. He looked down at her impassively, no particular expression on his face.

"We're the same, you know?" Lucas said, his lips curving up into a small smile.

"…What do you—"

They were suddenly interrupted by loud cheers and clapping. Maya and Lucas looked around in surprise, not having expected the entire group of people to have been watching them.

"Bravo! Bravo!" Margeaux said enthusiastically. "These two have it! _That_ is a tango! The trust! The ferocity and the grace! The oomph and the raw passion! You could just see the fire burning between them! The energy! The power! She evaded, he chased! She defied, he drew her back in! You could see a story of a forbidden love! Spectacular! Excellent!"

Lucas pulled Maya back up slowly, his gaze entirely serious now. Maya stared up at him in shock, her eyes wide and cheeks a bit red from what he had said. Her heart was pounding in her chest, as she tried to catch her breath, searching his eyes. How the hell had he known it had something to do with her parents? Were they honestly more similar than she believed?

"It's okay to be scared, Maya," Lucas said softly.

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest.

"I am _not_ scared of you." She broke out of his hold, letting go of his arms and taking a large step back away from him. "Shut up."

"…I was talking about your whole love doesn't exist thing," he said slowly, a brow quirked in amusement. "Wait, are you _scared_ of me?"

"No." she said quickly.

The grin on his lips grew, and Maya knew he would never let her live it down.

Crap.

Maya turned to Riley with a smile that was really more of a grimace. "He's all yours, Riley."

She stormed away without another word, knowing her face was bright red. She decided to ignore the fact that she had briefly gotten butterflies in her stomach.

She marched over to where Zay was sitting, pretending she couldn't see the mischievous, knowing grin on his lips. Her head was spinning, and she knew of only one thing that could clear her mind of the ridiculous events of that night and the intense end to her conversation with Lucas.

"We're all heading to your bar to get drunk after this. No option to say no."

"Of course," Zay said playfully. "I know _you_ definitely need it after whatever I just saw."

Truer words had never been spoken.


	38. Chapter 38

**A/N: This is filler, but it's a little necessary :3  
**

 **Thank you guys for the sweet reviews! I appreciate it and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to read this story! Have a wonderful afternoon/evening! Much love everyone! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"So, what happened for you to get so shell-shocked while you two were dancing?" Zay asked playfully.

Maya reached out and snatched Zay's ear, tugging it sharply and raising a menacing brow. He winced, flailing a bit and hissing from the slight pain.

"You know _exactly_ why I was shocked," she growled. "Why the fuck did you tell Lucas?"

"Ah. Telling him you were interested in him briefly?" Zay commented sagely, looking entirely too amused than Maya was comfortable with. "Sorry about that. But I make mischief. My life is boring. I like spicing things up a bit. Causing trouble. Things like that."

" _You're_ the villain." Maya muttered, dropping her hand to her lap and leaning her head back against the wall.

"What?" he asked, snickering from her comment. "Villain?"

"Why did you tell him? Lucas had no reason to know any of that stuff."

"I value blunt honesty. People I know need to be more honest. And if they choose not to be, that's fine. I'll be the honest one." He shrugged. "I was going to keep quiet, but you've convinced me that it's about time things moved the way they were supposed to."

"Convinced you? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She stared at him in shock. "What are you talking about, Zay?"

"Nothing in particular... I just like mischief, remember?" Zay said, a brow quirked a little dangerously. "Although, I guess if you look at it from some people's perspective, I will be a villain."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Are you drunk already? From whose perspective would you be a villain exactly? Mine?"

"Maybe Charlie at some point. Just to spice things up. That guy is too shy for his own good," Zay said pensively, watching Charlie as he showed Yindra a tango step. Maya could feel her irritation mount with each of his cryptic statements. Why the hell wasn't he clarifying what he meant? "As for you, I'm neutral right now. But whatever I become all depends on your future decisions."

"What future decisions?"

"Regarding your secret from Riley that you were the secret crush."

Maya frowned, feeling uneasy about Zay's response. Was he implying that he was going to reveal her secret to Riley if Maya herself didn't do so, because it sure seemed that way to Maya.

"Are you trying to wreck any relationships, Zay?" Maya's eyes narrowed dangerously and she curled her hand around his collar, yanking him closer. "Why did you bring up, Riley? Careful with your response, Zay. I'm not opposed to punching dumbass friends in the nose if they need one."

"Relax, Maya. You don't have to sic your—quite frankly—terrifying fury on me. Let me explain." Zay snorted, talking her hands off the lapel of his shirt. "I'm not going to be a villain to Riley of anything like that. Believe it or not, she's actually the one person I don't want to cause trouble for as long as I see that she's not keeping some sort of secret, that is. But other than that, _everyone_ is keeping secrets. And I firmly believe it's my duty to expose them. That's all it is. If it just so happens that revealing some secrets results in some boats being rocked, then I call that collateral damage."

"You don't care if you hurt people along the way?"

"I don't want to hurt people, but honesty is the best policy. And if a revealed secret changes the way things were or shakes some faith, then maybe that test of faith was always needed. You catch my drift? Plus Maya, you like Lucas. So I told him."

"Our lives are not some game that you can mess with to your heart's content, Zay. And what purpose did that even serve telling him? I don't like him. I _had_ one small, brief moment of interest in him, but that was it."

"I just wanted to see whether he would keep it to himself or take it up with you."

"You should have kept it to yourself in the first place. We'd already moved on from that issue."

"Look, Maya. It's no big deal since it doesn't change anything, right? But it makes you wonder…" Zay had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "If Lucas honestly let go of the whole issue as you say you both have, why did he bring up what I told him with you? He shouldn't have cared, right?"

"What are you implying, Zay?"

"Nothing in particular. It's just something I thought about. Now if you'll excuse me, I see a damsel in distress who needs my attention." Zay stood up, stretching his limbs. "Doe eyed Bambi coming in on the left, by the way. Save me a dance later, okay Maya?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Riley approached the chairs where Maya was sitting, slightly favouring her right leg and grimacing. She plopped down onto the chair beside her with a sigh, rubbing her sore ankle.

"You okay, Pumpkin?"

"I'm so bad at this…" Riley groaned. "At this rate, our wedding dance is going to be me stomping on his toes while he says ouch every few seconds."

"You're doing fine, Riley. Have more confidence in yourself."

"Easy for you to say. You know exactly what to do. It's going to take me a while to get that kind of natural tango chemistry with Lucas though." Riley commented, rolling her ankle around as she observed it. "You guys must have really hit it off stargazing. I got chills watching you dance."

Maya's gaze snapped to Riley at her comment, wondering if Riley was bothered by it. She didn't think Maya or Lucas were attracted to each other or something, did she? Not to mention Margueax's commentary after their little performance could have easily misled Riley into thinking the nature of their dance was more than just friendship. Which it absolutely wasn't.

"Hey. You know that me and Lucas, we were just dancing, right?" Maya said, resting her hand on Riley's shoulder. "It was strictly platonic. It didn't mean anything."

"I know." Riley frowned, looking at Maya in confusion. "You guys are good friends."

Maya wouldn't exactly say good friends, but she was glad Riley didn't seem upset about it.

"It didn't make you uncomfortable, did it?"

"Of course not, Maya. It's not like you guys have feelings for each other. I'm just happy that you two have finally become friends!"

"Alright." Maya smiled, sighing in relief in her mind. "Good."

"That being said, I think I've had enough dancing for the evening. And my feet are killing me. Think we could move on to part two of this evening's celebration?"

"The getting wasted off our asses part and singing horribly out of tune karaoke? Hell yes."


	39. Chapter 39

**A/N: There was an earlier part to this chapter that I cut that will appear later in the story instead. I'm moving the plot forward since I gave you filler last chapter but we'll properly meet all the wedding party later, I promise.**

 **Lol Guest! Holy crap! You're right! Zay IS a lot like Puck ahaha! xD**

 **Thank you guys for being so patient with me despite how long it took to update this. I appreciate the reviews and thank you for taking time out of your busy days to read this! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Maya, what the hell was that?" Yindra asked, leaning against the bar counter. "With you and Lucas and the tango and the sex with clothes and all that."

"Stop that. It wasn't anything."

Yindra rose a brow after thanking the bartender and taking her beer. "You know, I would believe that, but you've been avoiding him all night which is suspicious."

"I'm not avoiding him," Maya lied.

"Mmhmm… Right." She rose a brow. "Well, when you want to stop hiding away at the bar, Darby says you need to sing a duet with her."

Maya grimaced. "How wasted is she?"

"Honestly, she should be crawling on the ground soon enough."

"Then I think I'll be avoiding her."

"Good plan." Yindra snorted, walking away towards the group around the karaoke stage.

Truth was, Maya _had_ _been_ trying to avoid Lucas. Not because she was scared—she wasn't—but because he kept trying to ask her why she was scared of him and again, she wasn't. His questions had become utterly annoying and Maya had relocated to the bar, deciding it was just better to stay away from him then to argue against him when he was just as stubborn as she was.

Nonetheless, getting wasted at a karaoke bar was the best idea ever. Seeing drunken people make fools of themselves and singing random songs was definitely the highlight of her stressful week. It was great. Especially Riley and Sarah's current rendition and duet of Afternoon Delight. Ironic because they were the last people who anyone would think would sing that kind of song, but still great. Everyone else was having a good time too. Darby was nearly on Yogi's lap, giving him a very racy look that told pretty much everyone who her next target was. Maya was amused to see that even straight-laced Missy was a little tipsy, flirting with Billy over in a corner by themselves. Zay was unsuccessfully trying to get Smackle to loosen up and she glared at him dangerously, looking like she was two seconds from clawing in his face. The rest were cheering on Riley and Sarah, waving cellphones in the air and making a lot of noise applauding. Maya wondered how the other bar patrons were seeing them.

It was funny how alcohol turned them like a bunch of high schoolers. Maya would have joined the fray herself, but Riley was already three sheets to the wind and Maya knew her best friend wasn't normally the kind of person to indulge in that much alcohol. Somebody had to be able to stay up to take care of her and hold her hair back when she had her inevitable vomit spiel in the bathroom. So Maya was going to try to stay as sober as she could for the time being.

Her thoughts were broken when Lucas suddenly appeared and sat on the stool beside her at the bar counter, his trademark _annoying_ smirk on his face.

"So… You're supposedly scared of me," he said without prelude.

"Alright, I'm gone."

She tried to stand up and leave, but he took her arm and tugged her back down before she could escape. She almost lost her balance as she plopped back onto her seat and turned around, glowering at him. Lucas only rose a brow, still looking pretty amused about the whole thing.

"What the hell do you want?"

"You're not getting out of it this time. I can just ask Riley why you're scared, you know? And since she doesn't know, she'll ask you a million questions and hound you until you give her answers. You know how tenacious Riley can be. Do you really want to go down that road?"

"Did you really just threaten to sic Riley on me?"

"I'm sure you know how dangerous a threat that is, Maya," he replied, his eyes dancing in amusement.

"Oh how devious," Maya drawled, giving him a blank look. "For your information, I'm not scared of you. I know what you meant when you said 'it's okay to be scared'. I just said the wrong thing when I responded."

"Well what was going through your mind to say that wrong thing then?"

"Go away, and stop pressing for an answer you won't get!"

"I just feel like now that we've cleared the air completely between us, we should get to know each other and become friends, you know? You don't have to be scared of me. I'm completely harmless. Here, I'll even buy you a drink."

"I'll take the drink. Not interested in the friend thing." Maya snarked. "And I'm _not_ scared of you! The wrong shit just came out of my mouth because I was taken off guard!"

"That so, Shortstack?" He flagged over the bartender. "Can she have a whiskey on the rocks, please? And I'll just have a coke."

Maya stared at Lucas. "How did you know what I wanted?"

"I can read your mind," he said, a stupid little smirk on his face.

Maya gave him a look. "Try again, Sundance."

"Fine. The night you vomited on me, when I picked you up, you had a couple half empty glasses in front of you. It looked like whiskey so I figured that was your go to when you wanted to drown yourself in alcohol."

"…Impressive." Maya nodded in thanks to the bartender when she slid their drinks over to them.

"See?" He grinned. "I understand you already. I predict that by the end of the night we'll become friends."

"That's… not going to happen." Maya took a sip. "Besides. You don't know anything about me."

"I thought we'd already established that I do, in fact, know a lot about you. I wasn't exaggerating when I said Riley talked about you for ten minutes on our first date." Lucas pointed out. "I even know some of your deep dark secrets."

That worried Maya quite a bit. Riley became a babbling chatterbox when she was nervous and Maya had no doubt she could have accidentally said something to Lucas that was supposed to remain a secret.

"Oh God… what did she say?"

"Oh nothing… Just mentioned your clover birthmark. And its location."

Maya's face dropped and she narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"Shuck it from your mind. Right now."

"I don't think so. It's pretty good dirt to have on a person." Lucas chuckled. "She also told me what happened during your junior prom."

Dammit Riley.

"She told you that too?!"

"Like I said…" Lucas repeated, something a little dangerous dancing in his gaze. "I know _a lot_ about you."

She was going to kill Riley for this. He knew embarrassing stuff about her. And she had absolutely no dirt on him, unless she asked Zay for some, but asking Zay would result in him assuming she was interested in Lucas and the last thing she wanted was for that dumbass to try to rock any more boats.

"Just because you know a couple secrets and maybe my ambitions and my interests and my dislikes—which includes you at the top of the list, you know—"

"I figured when you told me for the thousandth time earlier that you don't like me."

"—doesn't mean that you actually know me."

"I think I've seen and heard enough to hazard a guess. You probably grew up with a difficult home life of some sort which is why you're so guarded. You've built walls around yourself because you're trying to protect yourself since you're so broken. You're the kind of person who puts herself down so no one else can make you feel bad for being who you are if you already see yourself in a negative light." His lips curved up into a shit-eating grin and Maya knew what he was about to say would piss her off. "And finally, I know that you're scared of love. You're scared of getting hurt. And you're scared of me because you were interested in me."

" _No_."

"Then why are you afraid of me?"

She'd had enough of his snarkiness to last an entire lifetime. Lucas Friar was an annoying little shit. This was really the guy Riley had fallen in love with?

"You done?"

"How'd I do? Pretty close, huh?" He finished off his drink, waiting patiently for her retort to his words. "We can talk about your issues if you want. I've been told I'm a very good listener."

Though it annoyed her to no end, he _had_ been pretty close with a few of them. But he'd also been dead wrong about another couple and that smugness and smarm definitely needed to be knocked down a peg. She wasn't a fan of cocky guys. And he was as cocky as they came. So in her opinion, he needed a wakeup call if he thought he actually knew her. Maya Hart was unpredictable. And she was about to show him just how unpredictable she really was.

Maya kicked off her heels and then climbed onto her stool before getting up on the bar counter. Lucas stared up at her in alarm, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"What are you doing? Be careful. And I can kind of see up your dress."

"Then don't look, perv. Hey everybody! Guess what?" she shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. People at the karaoke bar turned to Maya curiously, activities of the partying group quieting as they waited for what she was about to say. "Lucas Friar here has promised a round of drinks for everybody at this bar on him! Isn't that awesome?!"

Everyone started cheering and whooping and hollering and shouting thanks to Lucas. Satisfied, Maya climbed back down from the bar counter, hopping to the ground and giving Lucas a smug look.

He stared at her incredulously. "…You're terrible, you know that?"

"I don't know what gave you the impression that I'm anything other than terrible," Maya said, slipping back on her heels, "but clearly you need a reminder of who I am."

Lucas chuckled, shaking his head in mirth. "How did I not see this coming?"

"Dunno." She grabbed her drink from the counter. "But thanks for the drinks, Huckleberry."

As she walked away, she couldn't help but feel a small smile growing on her face. She didn't know how Lucas had made such astute conjectures when he didn't know her past, but she felt a little relieved in some ways.

It was kind of nice to know someone seemed to understand why she was the way she was.


	40. Chapter 40

**A/N: Hi Magnus Bane! Yay! You found the Easter Egg! :D  
**

 **I'm still responding to everything (and I mean EVERYTHING). Sorry for taking so long to get back to you all, but I'm getting there!**

 **Thank you guys for giving me the time I needed to heal and get my life back on track and sorted out. I'm okay now and I honestly appreciate the support and kindness you all have shown me these past couple of months. I'm sorry I haven't done much to repay you guys for your compassion, but I just want you to know that I can't thank you all enough and I am so grateful for you guys! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Maya… my head feels like jiggly jello…" Riley mumbled, giggling to herself as they headed down the hallway to her apartment door. "I'm drunk."

"I know, Pumpkin. You drank a lot," Maya said, digging in Riley's purse to retrieve her keys.

"Lucas?" Riley reached up and pinched both his cheeks. "Lucas, are you there?"

"I'm here, Riley."

"Guess what?" she whispered conspiratorially. "We're getting married. And I'm drunk!"

He laughed. "I noticed."

By the end of their night at Zay's, Riley had been so utterly shitfaced, Maya had had no choice but to sanction a ride for them both with Lucas. At first, she hadn't been particularly pleased with it, but halfway back to her apartment, Riley had conked out on the backseat. So in the end, Maya was glad that they had a way of transportation because she knew she wouldn't have been able to carry Riley's heavy dead weight on her own.

Maya pushed the door open and tossed Riley's stuff onto a couch before moving to the kitchen to grab water and aspirin. Lucas headed to the back, answering Riley's alcohol imbued questions with a patience Maya was definitely impressed by. After getting the water bottle, she walked back to Riley's room where she was rambling animatedly about something Maya was too tired to even try to understand at the moment. She walked over to her bed side and set the water and aspirin on her nightstand, knowing Riley would need it in the morning for her massive hangover.

"Alright," Lucas murmured, leaning down and kissing Riley's forehead gently. "Time for you to get some sleep. I'll come over in the afternoon for brunch, okay? I know you'll need it."

"Can you make me the chocolate chip smiley face pancakes with the whipped cream and the bourbon syrup, honey?" Riley asked in a cute baby voice.

Maya snorted, dumping the crumpled paper in the wastepaper basket out and putting it beside the head of Riley's bed. The woman could not hold her alcohol. Maya knew she was going to wake up in the middle of the night and start throwing up. Such was the norm for Riley since she wasn't accustomed to drinking in the least.

He smiled. "Of course. Anything for you."

"I wuvs you, Lucas." Riley giggled, cupping his face in her hands and puckering her lips.

"I love you too, Riley."

And that was Maya's cue to leave. _Especially_ before they got all mushy and lovey dovey. Watching people in love still made her kind of sick to her stomach. It just seemed so unnatural to her. She knew that was a direct consequence of watching her parents fight all the time and associating it as the norm, but she still couldn't help but think all that "love" talk was an act.

Maya grabbed an old baggy sweatshirt from the floor and headed out of the room, stretching her arms above her head with a yawn. She tossed on the sweatshirt and hopped onto the couch, turning on the TV and flipping through various channels so she could find something to occupy her time. preparing herself to relax off the end of a stressful evening.

Don't get her wrong. It had been fun to drink with the entire bridal party and sing crazy karaoke, but at the end of the day, there was only so much drunk Riley and Darby that she could take. And Missy, the voice of reason, had disappeared halfway through the evening and wasn't answering her phone so things got even crazier from there. It took her, Zay, and Lucas the better part of an hour to kick everyone out and get them taxis to go back to where they were staying. Maya was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball on the couch and doze off to the soothing sound of a comedy.

She'd gone through about half the channels when Lucas walked out of the hallway and plopped on the couch right next to her. She side eyed him warily, already expecting some kind of comment that would piss her off.

"Why are you still here again?" she sassed.

"You never answered my question at the bar. What exactly is it about me that scares you?"

Was he still going on about that?!

"For fuck's sake, let it go!" Maya scoffed in annoyance. "And go home! You're ruining my night."

"Yeah? Too bad. You ruined my night after your stupid prank at the bar. You owe me big time." He looked way too amused. "What exactly am I to you? Some big bad monster with sharp fangs and claws?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. A ghoul in my nightmares," she drawled, rolling her eyes. "Not to mention your _scales_. Oh and the horns and tail. The whole shebang."

Lucas snorted. "Seriously though, I'm usually not a threatening guy, Maya. I've been compared to a puppy, you know?"

"I'm not physically threatened by you," Maya replied. "And you're more like a rabid wolf or something."

She really _wasn't_ physically frightened of him. Most everyone she knew was bigger or taller than her, so she'd long since grown used to it. She didn't get intimidated by other people. It was just that he just kind of seemed like the kind of guy who could get under people's skin effortlessly and grow on them. A tick, so to speak. If she was being truly honest with herself, Maya could already feel it happening. She'd seen him so often in the past week that her subconscious was already labelling him as a constant in her life. And that was not okay.

"So then is this about Riley again? Are you scared of me being with her?" he asked.

Maya shook her head, flipping the channel to the one that usually had the British sitcoms and shows. There was usually something on that was pretty funny this late at night.

"It's not about that."

"Just tell me what's up. At this point, we're well past the point of being mortal enemies now." Lucas nudged her, trying to get her to open up. "You would think we should be able to talk without any barriers now. I mean, we apparently already had sex with clothes on so—"

"That's not funny." Maya snapped sharply, shooting up to her feet to leave.

She'd had enough of his dumb ass for the evening.

He started laughing. "I'm kidding!"

She didn't find it amusing one bit. "Do you get your kicks from being an annoying dork?"

"It's the Friar dorkiness curse," he riposted, that same infuriating grin still on his face. "Runs in the family. As for the annoying bit? That's just because you don't have a sense of humour."

Maya wondered how mad Riley would get at her if she tossed the remote at Lucas' head and knocked him out. As much as she hated to admit it, he was way too good at responding to her quips and getting a rise out of her. And Maya prided herself on her excellent verbal bantering skills.

"But in all seriousness, you need to get it off your chest, don't you? I can listen in place of Riley." Lucas patted the seat where she'd originally been sitting. "C'mon. What makes me scary?"

Part of her considered ignoring him, but the teasing gleam in his eyes had disappeared entirely, and he was actually regarding her seriously. He wasn't playing games right now. He genuinely wanted to understand what she thought. Maya sat back down with a sigh, deciding she'd talk, but if he pissed her off again, she was going to leave.

"The more people I let be part of my life, the higher the stakes for being hurt," she said elusively, trying not to be too explicit about the fact that he was kind of growing on her. "You get hurt by too many ticks."

"Ticks? Huh?" Lucas asked, staring at her in confusion.

" _People_ , Sundance. People are ticks. Ticks are temporary."

"…Are you basically saying you don't have that many consistent people in your life then?"

"My mom, the Matthews, a guy named Farkle, Missy, and my Gammy is just about it for constants." Maya shrugged. "I don't feel like I need to keep that many people in my life to lead a fulfilling one."

"So… the more people you let in, the more you have to let your guard down, the higher you think your risk is of being hurt, right?" Lucas stated. "You don't want to get attached to anyone you think has the potential of leaving."

"Right…" Maya's brows rose in surprise. She didn't think he would have understood the feeling. Not many people did. "Yeah, that's it."

"Doesn't that get lonely? If you spend your whole life living with the fear of being left, you'll miss out on a lot of potentially good relationships with other people."

"Not really." She leaned back against the cushions, kicking her legs up onto the coffee table as she stared at the TV. "I'm a lone wolf by nature. And I especially try to avoid people who can be potential good friends, because in the end, I'm going to get left and that would hurt the most. That's just the way it is."

"So that's what it is." Lucas' lips curved up into a smug smirk. "You're _scared_ of me because you don't want to admit to yourself that I'm someone you can see yourself really befriending. Admit it. I'm best friend material in your mind, aren't I?"

"There you go ruining a perfectly good conversation." Maya sighed, flipping the channel once again when a rerun came on that she'd already seen. "Go home, you dork."

"You're way too cynical." He laughed. "Anyway, you don't have to worry about me leaving or anything. I'm here to stay because I'm committed to Riley. You'll be stuck with me for a while."

"We'll see about that, Huckleberry."

The divorce rate in the country was 50%. And she didn't think that with the amount of time Riley and Lucas had known each other that they could realistically have a successful marriage.

"Don't think of me as a tick, Maya. Think of me as a—"

"Parasite? Not a problem."

He gave her a dry, slightly annoyed look, and Maya snickered at his reaction.

Before he could respond, the conversation was interrupted by a punctuated vomiting from down the hall. Maya and Lucas glanced at each other, freezing in place as they listened to the disgusting sounds of the wet chunks hitting a surface. A dread filled her mind at the thought of Riley not being coordinated enough to hit her mark.

"…Maya…" Riley groaned from her bedroom. "I missed the trashcan…"

"Oh God…" Maya's nose wrinkled in disgust, her worst fears realised. "This is going to be an all-nighter."

"Good luck." He gave her a sympathetic look as he stood up. "I guess I should probably head home now."

"Oh so now you finally want to go home?" Maya snarked.

"She called for you." Lucas made his way out the door, but before he left, he turned around, a smug look on his face. "See? Didn't I tell you we would be friends by the end of the night, Maya?"

Irked, Maya stood up and walked over to him, saying nothing as she shut the door in his face, trying to ignore his loud laughter on the other side. He was such a damn pest.

But she did find it interesting.

She didn't know how or when it had happened, but somehow she knew a part of her really did consider him sort of, kind of a friend now. She supposed it had a lot to do with the fact that he understood her without her having to explain herself.

"Damn tick…"


	41. Chapter 41

**A/N: Urgh. Sorry, one more filler. But I have to put this in here too for reasons.  
**

 **One more chapter and then the next phase of this story will start ;3 It'll pick up speed too!  
**

 **Thanks for the sweet reviews! I'm very lucky to have such wonderful readers like you and I'm so very grateful for all of you! I appreciate it! :)  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Sorry I'm late!" Maya burst into Lillian's private office, breathing hard after she'd nearly climbed up ten flights of stairs. The elevators had all been full and she'd had no choice since the clock was only ticking for every minute she was late. Lucas and Lillian were sitting at the round table in her office. "Riley had to take care of her review session for impending finals so she can't come to this meeting."

Lucas glanced at her over his shoulder, looking a little cross, but Lillian didn't look particularly bothered by her being late. Still though, Maya didn't doubt that this punctuality blunder for the second time had docked some of her credibility points with Mama Friar.

"She called us already, Maya," Lucas said, eyeing her in disdain as she plopped down in the seat beside him. "What's your excuse? You're twenty minutes late."

Maya took deep breaths, trying to calm down her breathing after having to run to Lillian's office. "Missy didn't wake me up."

"Yeah, like it's her responsibility." Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Look, I was tired okay?" Mondays were definitely not her friend. "Cut me some slack."

"Your professionalism astounds me. Or rather, lack thereof."

Maya was starting to get agitated. Could he get off her back? She was barely fully awake and she had no desire to be badgered by his dumb ass this early in the morning.

"Why are you getting on _my_ back? Missy's not even here."

Which was strange in and of itself, especially her complete lack of angry messages. Maya made a mental note to call Missy later.

"You're not making a good impression for your wedding planning company." His eyes narrowed. "Especially with calling a client's mother a bitch to her face."

"Oh she told you about that?" Maya rose a brow, settling back in her chair and crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Did she also tell you that she had it coming?"

"Okay then… You guys seem to get along well," Lillian drew out the words sarcastically, cutting the impending argument short when Lucas' expression turned a little dark from Maya's words. "So how long have you been acquainted with my son, Maya?"

"We just met last week."

"Must not have been a very pleasant meeting since you both are bickering right off the bat."

"Of course it was unpleasant. He almost broke my damn nose," Maya said, digging through her bag for Riley's wedding binder with the contracts and all paperwork for the wedding plans. "What can I say? I guess I just don't get along very well with you Friars."

"So I've noticed…" Lillian drawled, chuckling to herself.

Lucas turned to his mother, looking confused. "Wait, you're okay with her calling you a bitch?"

Lillian shrugged, twirling a pen between her fingers. "She was honest about it and headstrong—reckless even. I like those characteristics in people. But we need to get this meeting started. Your grandfather is back and wants to show Maya around the ranch before his vacationers arrive."

"When is James coming by?" Lucas asked.

"He's not today, but Lucas, c'mon. James? Really?" Lillian sighed, stacking some documents together and giving him a stern look. "You can't call him dad at least once?"

"He's not my father. So why would I call him that?"

Lillian's lips pursed and she stared him down though Lucas didn't yield, looking every bit as resolute as his mother. As amusing as it was to watch the subtle arguing between mother and son—hazel versus sea-foam green; they even had the exact same look of irritation on their faces, right down to the slightly cocked left eyebrow—Maya could easily sense the tension brewing, and she could swear there was fire raging around Lucas. She could just about feel the heat from his anger and knew she had to change the subject before things got whatever it was direction they were heading down fast. Clearly James was a touchy topic. Maya hadn't had a chance to meet Lillian's husband yet, but she could already sense he'd be a point of conflict in the wedding. She made a mental note to figure out what was going on there to take preventative measures.

"Okay." Maya slapped the heavy binder on the table loudly, jarring them out of their standoff and mentally snickering when they both jumped a bit from the surprise noise. "So I've just about created all contracts necessary last week. The last thing to do is to figure out the exact location of each part of the wedding and then we can really get in depth with flowers, décor, food, clothes and the like—the semantics—for the next handful of weeks. Did you and Riley decide on an after party location?"

Maya had spent the better part of the previous evening praying that they wouldn't make it a hoedown in a barn. Because the only thing she could imagine were all the bridesmaids and groomsmen do-si-doing in some dusty wooden barn, dirtying up their dresses and tracking mud all over the place. It scared the shit out of her.

"Riley and I were thinking it could be interesting to do it like a hoedown in the barn," Lucas said. Maya's face dropped. "Pappy Joe has a pretty big one that we don't use anymore. It needs a bit of renovation, but that shouldn't take too long."

Maya mentally cursed in her mind, her nose wrinkling in disgust. This was a nightmare wedding. Even worse than the cotton candy pink one she'd had when she'd first started out when the bride refused to move her wedding indoors to the rain tentative site when it became obvious that it was going to rain. That wedding had ended with everyone scattering when they got drenched and the bride getting wed with mascara running down her face.

But a hoedown in a barn was still ten times worse than that.

"Lucas, a hoedown?" Lillian gave him a dry look. "I know we're having it on a ranch, but it doesn't necessarily have to be cowboy themed. Think about how the wedding party will look, not to mention the colours. I think you should discuss this with Riley again. Give it some more thought."

Thank God for Lillian Friar. Maya let out a mental sigh of relief and when she glanced at Lillian, she could have sworn the woman winked at her.

She didn't know whose influence had been the strongest in the desire for the hoedown, but she knew one or both of them would regret it years from now when they looked back on their wedding. It was becoming pretty apparent to Maya that the two of them could have a possible trainwreck of a wedding too if left to their own devices.

"You two can also just wait to figure out how you want to decorate after we go over some samples. I can set up a few examples of what would look good once I see the barn," Maya added. "We have time."

"Alright. We'll think about it." Lucas agreed.

Maya nodded. "So all that's left is determining the actual site of where the ceremony will take place."

"Perfect." Lillian stood up. "So let's head to Pappy Joe's now and get the locations down and set in stone."


	42. Chapter 42

**A/N: Hi Guest! I actually use the chapter progress bars with those particular stories because I write them in small increments in several different days/sittings. But for chapters of I Do (Not), I write in one sitting all at once, therefore, it would be hard to keep track of the progress of the chapters since I finish them all at once. Updates for that story are iffy af, I know it's hella annoying! I'm sorry! :3  
**

 **There's cheese in this chapter. Be forewarned.  
**

 **I can't thank you all enough for your wonderful support! You all are so sweet to me and I'm so grateful to have you guys in my life! Thank you for everything! :3  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Your Pappy Joe is your grandfather on whose side?" Maya asked.

"My biological father's," Lucas responded as they walked through the freshly cut field towards the horse barn. "I basically grew up on this ranch."

"The barns are a lot nicer than I expected," she mused, snapping pictures of the surrounding area to draw inspiration into how to design the layout of the wedding.

While they waited for Pappy Joe to arrive back at the ranch from the airport, Lillian had had to take an urgent call and asked Lucas to show Maya some of the barns. They'd made a few short rounds to see a few animals—thankfully not the chickens because Maya was _terrified_ of chickens—and now he was taking her to see the horse barn, the biggest one and the one that would most likely be used to host the after party.

"Well what did you think it would look like?" he asked in confusion as he opened the wooden barn door for her.

"I honestly thought there'd be animal poo everywhere and that it would smell pretty bad."

The barn was huge, but the effort to clean it up to set it up for a wedding after party would take quite a while. They'd have to move the animals to new housing for the time being, scrub the floors and walls, move all the stray hay, air out the barn, and that wasn't even going into the décor. Maya sighed, knowing this was going to be a damn big job for a wedding that had to be finished in three months.

"And now your misconception has been rectified." They walked over to a brown horse tethered to one of the poles, chewing on a bale of hay. "This is one of my horses, Bucky. Don't worry; he doesn't bite."

Maya stared up at him with her jaw dropped. Maya knew she was small, but standing next to the horse, she felt like she was _tiny_. Like she could easily get trampled. In awe, she lifted her camera and snapped a pic of him, making sure the flash was off so as not to spook him. Maya had remembered seeing horses at petting zoos when she was a child, but that had been a really long time ago, and she couldn't fully remember the experience. This was the first time she'd seen a real live horse in a while.

"Good God… He's _huge_. How do you ride him without falling off?"

Lucas looked amused as he watched her cautiously pet the side of his horse. "What do you mean? You just stay on and hold the reins. It's like riding a bike."

Maya gave him a blank look, and Lucas' brows rose in surprise.

"…You've never ridden a bike?"

"Never needed to learn. Besides, why would I willingly put myself on an unprotected, open vehicle?" Maya huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest and feeling a little embarrassed by Lucas' disbelief. "It's not that big a deal. A lot of people I know have never ridden a bike before."

"I just find it surprising is all. The only thing we did growing up was ride bikes to go to the lake." Lucas stroked his horse's neck, rubbing under the mane as the horse's eyes drooped slightly. "Well, how would you like to sit on a horse for the first time?"

"I wouldn't." Maya deadpanned.

"Just so you know, Riley is planning on taking pictures on the horses and decorating them so they look like royal horses. It's for the princess wedding image. She might even want you bridesmaids and groomsmen riding down the aisle on the horses."

"Oh hell no. That is way too much maintenance." Maya was appalled. The potential for injury if they carried on with that plan was too high. Not to mention Maya herself was feeling pretty anxious about having to sit atop a horse when she couldn't even see over the top of his back. "Not to mention all the practice that will take. Convince her otherwise."

"I can try, but either way, you'll have to get on one eventually." Lucas shrugged. "I mean, what kind of wedding on a ranch doesn't have pictures on horses? Might as well get used to it now."

"…If I get on this horse, he won't fling me off right?" she asked nervously.

"Bucky is one of the sweetest horses you'll ever meet." As if on cue, Bucky whinnied happily, nuzzling Maya's neck with his nose. She chuckled, feeling as though he was comforting her in his own way. "Wouldn't hurt a fly."

Maya did kind of want to see what it was like on a horse. She'd always found equestrians particularly impressive with the way they performed smoothly, jumping hurdles and guiding their horses through an arena in complicated performances that she couldn't dream of accomplishing.

"Alright. I'll give it a try." She held Bucky's face, looking him in the eye. "If I fall off of you, I'm holding you accountable, got it horse?"

The horse whinnied again and Maya sighed, moving over to the side and frowning as she tried to figure out the best method to get up.

Lucas walked over to her. "I'll help you up. Put your arms up."

Maya did as she was told, a little confused how this was going to work until Lucas stood directly behind her and lifted her up by the waist. She yelped in surprise as she was nearly flung in the air, almost automatically swinging her leg around so she could sit on Bucky and hugging him around his neck so she wouldn't fall off.

"A little warning would have been nice!" Maya sat up, glaring down at Lucas. "I'm not some rag doll that you can just throw around, you stupid cowboy!"

"You would have objected to my method of helping you if I had told you what I was about to do," Lucas countered with a smirk. "You didn't fall, did you?"

He wasn't wrong.

Maya looked around, a little awed by her new vantage point and surprised by the fact that she could see over someone's head for the first time. She was so damn high up in the air. She didn't even want to look at the ground because the only thing she could think about was the fact that looking down was a reminder of just how far she could fall. It was too intense being on a horse.

"How does it feel to be tall for the first time in your life?" Lucas teased playfully, watching her with barely concealed amusement.

She ignored his little barb. "This is terrifying."

Lucas chuckled. "It's not too bad."

"Yeah, if you're already a giant like you are."

"Ever consider the fact that you're just abnormally short? I'm pretty sure I'm a normal height." Lucas snorted when Maya shot him a glare. "How about it? Do you want to ride him a bit?"

" _No_. If I fall off, my whole body will get broken."

"You're being dramatic, Maya. It's just a little back and forth. I'll even hold the reins the whole time so you won't have to do anything. Besides, Riley's going to make you ride on them a bit anyway."

"I'm not ready for riding any horses yet!" Maya groaned. "Dammit. I bet Riley's going to pair us off, so no doubt I'm going to be with Zay for these picture."

"Yeah probably." Lucas laughed. "Good luck. He has a tendency to… _horse_ around."

Maya gave him an incredulous look. Had he really just…

"You are such a colossal dork."

"What can I say?" he snarked. "It's a gift."

"I wouldn't be proud of it…" she muttered, her nerves starting to ride her hard. "Can you help me down now, please?"

"Yeah, yeah scaredy cat." He walked closer to Bucky's side, right beside Maya's leg. "Maya, put your hands on my shoulders and rotate your legs so they're on one side."

Maya did so, leaning down a bit as she grasped his shoulders though she was a little nervous with the prospect of falling down. "You're not going to pull me, are you?"

He shook his head. "Just relax. You won't get hurt."

Lucas reached up and wrapped an arm around her lower back, the other hooking under her knees. Carefully, he nudged her forward until she wasn't sitting atop the horse anymore. It was only a slight drop from being on the horse to being in Lucas' arms, but she still inhaled sharply and closed her eyes, waiting for a fall that never came.

"See? You're okay." Lucas murmured. "You can stop clawing my shirt now."

Maya opened her eyes slowly, blinking up and meeting Lucas' warm gaze. She didn't realize in her fear, she had Lucas' shirt in a death grip.

"Sorry…" She let go of his shirt, still a little shaken.

He smiled reassuringly, and Maya swallowed thickly, her heart skipping a beat in her chest as she stared up at him. She searched his eyes, thrown off by his proximity. She felt safe in his arms. Comfortable.

Maya cleared their throat, raising a brow and changing her expression so it was blank. "You going to put me down anytime soon?"

"Uh… right." He set her gently on the ground, only letting go once he was sure she was steady on her feet. He scratched the back of his head, glancing away a bit sheepishly. "We should probably head back. I'm sure Pappy Joe is here by now."

"Yeah. Good idea."

They left the barn, Maya shucking whatever that weird moment had been out of her mind.


	43. Chapter 43

**A/N: LOL THE CHEESE PUNS. I CAN'T WITH YOU GUYS.  
**

 **Thanks for your sweet words and kind reviews! You guys are so wonderful and I appreciate the support and kindness you show me! If you ever need some cheering up or just want to talk, my PM box is always open! Love you all! :3  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

When Maya and Lucas returned to the front porch, Lillian was standing with a fairly tall man in full cowboy gear right down to the spurs on his boots who Maya presumed to be Pappy Joe. Somehow, he wasn't and _was_ exactly what she had assumed he would be.

"You must be Riley," he said once they'd stopped in front of them. He did a small little cowboy bow, holding his hat to his chest and then taking her hand and kissing the knuckles. "I'm Pappy Joe. Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. Congratulations on your engagement to my grandson. And might I say, you are a beautiful woman."

Lillian started to laugh at that, and Lucas snorted, looking mildly amused. Maya tossed them both dirty looks. It wasn't funny.

"She's perfect for you, boy," Pappy Joe continued, replacing the hat on his head and clasping Lucas' shoulder. "She's got fire in her soul, I can tell."

"Joe, she's not the bride," Lillian corrected in between her snickers. "That's our wedding planner."

"Maya Hart," Maya said, introducing herself. "Riley couldn't make it today."

"Oh… Well that's mighty embarrassing." He scratched the back of his head. "Apologies, ma'am. I misunderstood. So what do you need to do here today? What can I do for you?"

"Well, I need to create a "picture" map of sorts of the entire grounds of the ranch. It would be great if I could get a tour of the whole place, starting with the interior of the ranch house since that's where catering will store food, the wedding party dressing rooms will be, preliminary pictures, wedding rehearsal dinner, engagement party, guest lodgings for immediate family, then I'd like to see the area near the pond, all the barns Lucas and I didn't get to and—"

"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, lil' lady. There's only so much this old mind can remember at once."

"That's okay. I have a list." Maya opened her binder and pulled out the checklist she'd typed up the night before. She handed it to Pappy Joe who took it with a raised brow. "But there's no time for slowing down."

"It's a lot of stuff…" the old man muttered in awe. "I didn't realize this is what weddings took to make."

"It's usually more spaced out and there's some down time in between," Maya explained. "But I'm planning a near shotgun wedding in about two months that is the size of what a six-months-to-plan wedding usually is. We need to get the ball rolling."

"I can see why Riley picked you for this job…" Lillian looked impressed. "Despite first impressions, you're very zealous. I feel confident leaving the wedding planning in your hands."

"Of course," Maya said, puffing up a little with pride. She loved being complimented on her good work. "I am the agency's best, after all."

Lucas scoffed, letting out a short, incredulous laugh. "Their best is someone who can't be bothered to be punctual to meetings, fights with clients' parents, and antagonizes the groom? I'd hate to see their worst…"

"I've since rectified those errors," Maya growled, glaring at him.

"You were late this morning, and you still antagonize me," he shot back, raising a brow.

Maya was going to respond with something tart when her phone ringer went off with the tone that she'd designated for Missy.

"Excuse me, I really need to take this. It's my assistant," Maya apologized.

"Take your time. I might need a few minutes to read over all this stuff…" Pappy Joe held up the list to Lillian who moved over to look at it with him. "Lillian, look at all this. This would cost you a fortune if we weren't doing it on my ranch…"

Maya moved a little away from the group, answering her phone.

"She calls at last. Where are you, Missy?"

 _"I kind of hooked up with someone yesterday…"_ Missy said, sounding flustered.

"You did what?" Maya started laughing. "Straight laced Missy had a one night stand with someone?"

 _"Technically two nights. Anyway, the point is, I'm headed over right now. And I'm terribly sorry about my unprofessionalism; it won't happen—"_

"Relax. Don't worry about it. We'll be done for the day by the time you get here." Missy rarely if ever made any mistakes or messed up. Maya would give her the benefit of the doubt. "But you are going to tell me about your little tryst with one of the groomsmen the next time we meet up."

 _"What? Who said anything about a groomsman?"_

Maya's lips curled up into a devious grin. That had been too fast a response.

"Considering you were with us at Zay's and then you suddenly weren't, that doesn't leave that many options, yeah?" Maya lowered her voice. "So you'll tell me who you rebounded with or I'm going to start asking them one by one and one way or another, I'll figure out who the mystery guy is. Your choice."

 _"You know… I kind of hate you sometimes."_

"Love you too, Missy. Let's get dinner tonight."

 _"Cool. I'll text you."_

Maya hung up the phone and stuck it back into her bag before taking out her camera and heading back over to the Friars.

"Okay. I'm ready for the grand tour, Mr. Pappy Joe."

"Mr. Pappy Joe? Who the hell is that?" He barked with laughter as they all turned to head into the large ranch home. "Pappy Joe is just fine. Some of the rooms in here are off limits because renters are staying in them, but don't hesitate to ask me any questions, lil' lady."

"Alright."

The whole of the grounds of the ranch was _much_ bigger than Maya had expected. It wasn't too populated or littered with buildings everywhere, but it was expansive and it would take a lot to turn these grassy fields and pastures and trails into a dream wedding. Though now that she had gotten a chance to get a good look at everything, she was having a much easier time mentally formulating her design plans.

The first time Maya had seen the pond and the bridge, she had thought it would be pretty cool to have the ceremony on the bridge surrounded by pond lilies and the bright, gorgeous leaves of the trees reflecting in the summer light. The clear blue sky and vibrant trees as a backdrop to Riley's white dress would be extraordinary.

But now she was convinced that it _had to_ be on the bridge above the pond. It made her heart race thinking of how amazing it would be to have the union of bride and groom in such a scenic area. There wouldn't be too much shade, unfortunately, but there was plenty of space for an entire wedding. All she would have to do is make sure the bridge was reinforced and safe enough as well as sturdy enough to hold both their weight and the officiant's for the duration of the wedding. And she'd have to make sure there were some kind of guard rails so Riley wouldn't fall off the side and end up in the water.

By the end of the tour, Maya had used up all the space on her camera from taking extra pictures of the scenery just so she could paint them. It was a shame she didn't have more time at the ranch to just explore and visit the more secluded areas. She absolutely loved the ranch for some reason, even though she'd never really been a nature person. It was surprising to her that she _wanted_ to spend even more time outdoors. The fresh air, unlimited muses for painting, the sense of calm and peace in the area. It was so different from New York, but just as comforting in some strange way. Maybe it was the scent of _family_ that lingered everywhere. A closeness and an atmosphere that she'd never experienced in her youth but had always wanted.

What the hell was Austin, Texas doing to her?

"Did you get everything you needed?" Pappy Joe asked once they returned under the awning of the porch of the main house.

"Just about, yeah." Maya smiled. "The ranch is beautiful, by the way. I could spend hours here. And this is coming from someone who hates being outside."

"Then I appreciate it tons. And feel free to stop by any time." Pappy Joe chuckled. "It's been a pleasure to meet you, Maya. Sorry for having to leave so soon, but I have a program to show some of my lasso tricks to some eager little summer campers."

"Thanks for the tour, Pappy Joe," Maya said. "It was nice to meet you too."

"You're very welcome."

"Lucas, can you give Maya a ride back to where she needs to go?" Lillian said, waving at Pappy Joe as he headed back out towards one of the barns. "I'm heading out to lunch with James. You're welcome to join us later if you want."

"I don't," Lucas responded dryly.

Lillian sighed, standing up from the porch swing. "You would think it'd be time to bury the hatchet, but you are just as stubborn as he is."

What hatchet needed burying. Maya kind of wanted to know. Any tensions between family in a wedding were bound to show up at the wedding itself.

"Mom, it's fine. Some people just don't get along. Like me and James." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Enjoy your lunch. Call me later, okay? Riley wanted us to meet up for dinner."

"Alright. I'll see you later, cowpoke." She grabbed her keys from the table as she started to leave. "Maya, hun, you let me know if there's anything else you need from me. I'll get my secretary to schedule a finance meeting with you next week."

"Will do, Lillian."

"I'm surprised my mom has taken a liking to you despite how terribly you acted."

"I apologized. We worked it out." Maya yawned. "You're holding a grudge over something that was resolved ages ago. Let it go, Huckleberry."

"Are you going back to Riley's?" Lucas asked Maya, patting his pockets to make sure he had his keys.

"I guess so…" Maya checked her watch. It was just about a quarter to twelve. She didn't have as much time as she'd originally assumed. "I was thinking I'd do a bit of shopping, but maybe I'll just go with Riley."

She supposed they could check out wedding and bridesmaids dresses before Riley went to dinner.

"So did the tour help with the planning?" he asked as they made their way back to where he'd left his car.

"Definitely. I have a vision of what I want the wedding to look like, but it might require a bit of work in one or two places. And I found the perfect spot for the ceremony."

"The bridge on the pond, right?"

Maya nodded. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"It was a lucky guess, but when we were over there, you seemed more excited," Lucas said absentmindedly. "Or rather than say excited, it was more like you were… sparkling."

"Sparkling?" she snorted. "Wow. Not good with descriptive words?"

"Okay, maybe not 'sparkling', per se. But you were glowing?" He shrugged, cracking a smile. "I don't know how to describe it, but to me it just seemed like you really liked it. It showed on your face."

"I mean, it's perfect. If I were to paint a picture of a wedding ceremony, I'd put it right there." Maya pulled out her camera, shuffling through the pictures until she'd stopped at the money-making shot of the midday light reflecting off the leaves just right and illuminating the pond. "It's The One."

"For Riley's wedding?" Lucas mused. "Or for yours?"

Maya glanced at him in confusion. "I'm never getting married. What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying, it seems like you're in love with the spot, but as a place you'd really love for _your_ hypothetical wedding if you were getting married on this ranch," Lucas clarified. "Riley's a little clumsy, you know? Do you really want her in an expensive dress in heels on the top of a rickety wooden bridge above a pond? I can already think of like ten scenarios that would end with Riley _in_ the pond. And in a couple of them, I end up in the pond too. I really don't want to end up in a pond on my wedding day."

Maya groaned under her breath, though the thought of the bride and groom falling off the bridge into a pond was arguably hilarious. It would certainly make for some great stories.

"I know… But it's perfect! If I can work with her and choreograph the exact path that she needs to walk, we can avoid disaster. Plus I'm going to put guard rails up."

"If you're sure," Lucas said at length, though he still looked skeptical. "Just remember this is _Riley_ you're talking about. She'll find a way to fall, no matter how much you work to avoid it."

"I'm sure." About the spot. She knew damn well if Riley was on a crash course to the ground, she'd go down. And she would take along anybody in the way for the ride. "Hey, do you mind if I come here sometime again this week to explore more of the area? I found some pretty amazing sights."

"To paint?"

"Mmhmm." Maya shuffled through some of the images on her camera, marvelling at the fact that she'd managed to get such clean, beautiful shots of the images. "There's so much untapped and fresh beauty here. New York was getting kind of stale since I was stuck in the same environment for so long."

"You'll get a chance to come back on Friday. Riley wanted to plan a picnic here and bring all of our wedding party."

"That'd be a great idea for group bonding." Maya took out her phone to make a note of it.

"And we can also use that day to get used to riding some of the horses," he added playfully.

She shot him a dirty look. "…I'm not coming."

Lucas rose a brow. "Riley's not going to let you skip out."

"I'm not coming," Maya repeated.

He laughed, shaking his head in amusement.

As they approached his truck, Maya's phone started ringing again from an unknown number. She picked up with a frown.

"Hello?"

 _"I thought about what you said, and I don't care. I don't know why, but I can't get you out of my head. I want to get to know you better."_

Maya frowned. This person clearly had the wrong number.

"Who the hell is this?"

 _"It's Josh Matthews. I called you last week?"_

"Josh?" Maya rolled her eyes. "I thought I told you not to call me anymore."

Lucas glanced at her at those words, his brows a bit furrowed from her tone.

 _"Look, you never gave me a fair shot. One date. That's all I ask for."_

"Why would I? I have no interest in dating you."

 _"I just want to talk. We have a lot in common."_

"Look, sorry. I don't know what my mom said to you about me, but _I'm_ not interested. Whatever girl you remember, she's not the same person from back then anymore." Maya sighed, exasperated by his persistence. "Find someone else. Call me again, Josh, and I'll sic my mom on you for being annoying, and trust me, she's much worse than I am."

 _"Wait, Maya! I wanted to tell you that I'm—"_

She ended the call before he could finish, fighting the urge to chuck her phone at one of the trees. Lucas was trying to pretend like he wasn't interested in her conversation but she caught his curious expression right before he looked away.

"Clingy ex-boyfriend?" he said nonchalantly.

"No. Riley's uncle."

"He's uh… he's interested in you?" Lucas asked, sounding baffled. "Do you need help getting him to back off?"

Maya found his appalled expression pretty damn amusing. "He's only about three years older than me. It's harmless. He just keeps saying he wants to get to know me better."

"Oh. He's the young uncle she mentioned once," he said. "Well, is it because you two have some kind of history?"

"If you count some ridiculous, borderline obsessive childhood crush I had a history, then sure. I don't even know what he looks like now. I remember he had blue eyes and curly hair on his head, but that's just about it. Apparently the only thing he remembers about me too is the fact that I sat on his head when we were kids and threatened him that he had to marry me.

Lucas chuckled. "Sounds like something you would do. Sans the marriage thing though."

Truth was, she'd only wanted to marry Josh when she was young because she felt he was a definite way to join Riley's family after her dad left her mom. Riley had the perfect life. And she'd wanted that. Of course, it'd only taken her a few years before she realized she honestly didn't care and by the time she hit high school, Maya had become indifferent, doing whatever and _whomever_ with little regard to intimacy because in her mind, as long as she stayed detached and just did whatever she wanted, she wouldn't get hurt.

It worked for years, but it was an empty sort of existence, just as bad as her mother's frequent relationships with shallow men who always left her heartbroken. And before the start of college, Maya had dropped the crazy, party girl act, deciding to just embrace the cynic she knew she'd always been since middle school.

There'd been no one who ever understood the way her mind worked anyway. And those who did partially understand ended up wanting nothing to do with such a "twisted" girl.

She'd said it back then and she'd say it again: love was for suckers.


	44. Chapter 44

**A/N: Here we go ;3 (Sorry it's a little rushed! I'll clean it up later)  
**

 **I appreciate the kind reviews! You all are so sweet and I can't thank you enough for always bringing a smile to my face! Thanks for everything, loves! :3  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"So you've been friends with Riley since you were kids?" Lucas asked.

"Yupp, joined at the hip since kindergarten. She fell off the monkey bars onto me and her tooth went through my skin. Love at first injury." Maya rolled her bottom lip over her bottom row of teeth and showed him the old scar under the corner of her mouth. "I still have the stitch wound."

"Ouch." Lucas winced, looking back at the road when the light turned green. "At least it's not a bad scar though. Barely noticeable. It's the same with me and Zay. You know, except for the bludgeoned with a tooth part. Our moms introduced us and he pelted me with Legos until I cried and from that day forward, we were inseparable, though he drives me nuts."

"It sounds like something Zay would do." Maya chuckled. "So when did Charlie join your little trio of idiots?"

"It was about two years later." Lucas turned onto a familiar street, and Maya watched as two teenagers made out on the front steps of one of the complexes. "He moved to Texas from Maine and our moms made us befriend him since he was so shy. He never used to say anything though. He would stare at us like we were crazy, but wouldn't talk."

"What changed?"

"I don't really know to be honest. One day, he just started to play with us and then we became closer friends. It was after his dad sent him a book of poems," Lucas mused. "Now that I think about it, that's probably when his love of poetry began too."

"Wait, poetry…?" Maya frowned, turning towards Lucas in surprise. That sounded too familiar. "Hold on. _Charlie_ loves poetry?"

"Yeah." Lucas looked a little alarmed. "What, did I say something wrong?"

"How did you and Riley start dating? Give me the circumstances."

"Uh…" He glanced at her in confusion at the abrupt change in subject. "Well it was a total accident. Zay met her first and set her up on a blind date with Charlie after he had a bad breakup. Technically, she was supposed to be Charlie's rebound, but he didn't want to go on any dates with anyone and he also didn't want to stand her up so I went instead."

So Riley's supposed fairy tale meeting really _had_ been a total accident. It wasn't even supposed to have been with Lucas. Maya thought it was strange that Zay would describe Lucas as sweet and sugary and a lover of poetry because there was no way that description seemed to fit him. Knowing how much Charlie seemed to like Riley now made it so ironic. If _he_ had gone on that date with Riley, well…

"It was a weird date. Like I mentioned before, she basically only talked about you, but I thought she was cute. So we went on another date later in the week so we could get to know each other a little better," he continued, turning on Riley's street. "I'd had a string of bad relationships for several years, but Riley was sweet, and I liked going out with her. It took a couple more weeks before we were officially together, but before I knew it, she became my girlfriend."

"Interesting…" Maya muttered, wondering how much more Riley would tether on to the hokey idea of "fate" if she found out that her meeting Lucas had truly been a coincidence.

"I would never have pegged you as the type to be interested in love stories."

"I'm not. I was just checking that your story lined up with Riley's for when I do my embarrassing MOH speech. Can't have the maid of honour not knowing about the relationship, can we?"

"Makes sense." Lucas turned into the parking lot of the complex.

"Oh yeah. One last thing before I forget. I would like you both to start filling your wedding registry. Get it finished this week so I can go ahead and send the invites and establish the registry website. And then your engagement party has to happen preferably this weekend." Maya checked off her mental list, ticking points off on her fingertips. "Draft a guest list. Get insurance on your engagement ring. After which we need to get cracking on décor and amenities for your wedding and how to handle the theme. Tuxes and gowns and dresses. Cake is a big one. And that's not even going into what you want to be serving. I really hope you guys don't go with barbecue; I've done that in a wedding. Trust me. It's not cute. Plus there's what kind of attractions you want at the wedding. That should take us to mid-June, just in time for rehearsals, especially if you guys want to do some kind of special dance or performance. And then I'll need—"

"Can you learn to _just_ use lists, for fuck's sake? I don't know half the crap you just said." Lucas rose a brow, giving her an incredulous look.

"Tough, Sundance. This needs to happen fast since you guys want a wedding before the end of summer. We're on a time constraint. And I do have a list." Maya pulled out the list from her binder and slapped it on his dashboard. "Get to work on these tasks and get back to me asap."

"I bet you secretly enjoy making people's lives more inconvenient." He deadpanned.

She smirked. "I like making _yours_ inconvenient."

"So I see." Lucas gave her a dry look out of the corner of his eye, rolling to a stop in front of the stairs of Riley's apartment. "Here. Sorry, I would walk you up, but I have an appointment with a cocker spaniel who likes to bite."

"Sounds fun." She drawled, putting her binder back in her bag. "It's fine. Save your Prince Charming act for someone who gives a damn. You don't have to be a gentleman on my behalf if you don't actually care."

"…You know, it's not an act. I really don't mind walking you up."

Maya ignored the comment, rolling her eyes as she searched through her bag to make sure she had her phone.

"Why do you always assume the worst about people?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"Because people are the worst. And they aren't sincere. They're in it for themselves."

"But sometimes people _are_ actually sincere. You just have to give them a chance, or you'll never get the chance to see that not everyone is like that."

"Mmhmm," Maya said dryly. "Thanks for the lecture, Hopalong. I'll believe that when I see some changes in the people I used to know and the ones I've met. For now, I think I'll stick to being twisted Cynical Cindy. It's never let me down so far. Unlike other people."

"Maya."

Something about his tone made her stop shuffling in her bag and give him her attention.

"Whoever hurt you to make you like this? Whatever hurt you?" he said softly. "I'm sorry."

For a few seconds, she stared at him, kind of shocked by his comment.

"Your apology can't change the past, Lucas."

"But someone has to apologize to you." He shrugged with a grin. "And I decided it's going to be me."

"…Dork."

"Chihuahua."

Maya rolled her eyes but smiled back. "Thanks. I appreciate it. It doesn't change my opinion, but I do appreciate it."

"You're welcome. And for the record, I don't think you're twisted. Or certifiably fucked up. You just need someone to show you that not all people are bad."

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest as she stared at him. Had she just heard him correctly?

"Wh-what?"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with being cynical, but you really ought to give people a chance to mess up first, you know?" he chuckled.

"The part about…" Maya cleared her throat and shook her head, trying to ignore the way her heart felt like it jumped in her chest. "You know what? Nevermind. I'm heading up. Thanks for the ride."

"See you later, Maya."

She climbed out and shut the car door, turning to head up the stairs back to Riley's apartment, stewing over their conversation. Lucas had been able to live a relatively normal life, but she'd never be stupid enough to put her trust in someone and get hurt because when it came down to it, people would take advantage the moment they saw an opening. It was honestly better to be guarded and ready from the start.

But aside from that, there was no doubt about it. Lucas had said he didn't think she was twisted. Even after all of the fighting they'd done in the past week. That had to be the first time anyone had ever said anything like that. She didn't really know what to make of it.

"What a dork." Maya couldn't stop her smile though.

It'd been a totally unexpected compliment, but it meant a lot. Maybe Lucas wasn't as much of an asshole as she'd originally thought, but she was still wary of his relationship with Riley. And wary of the fact that Riley still seemed to have the wrong impression of him being a Mr. Perfect. What sorts of dark secrets did Lucas have to be hiding for him to know about Maya's extreme cynicism and not think she was twisted? It was all very suspect.

As Maya walked down the landing of Riley's apartment, she noticed someone tall and lanky just standing idly by in front of it, a large black camera bag resting on the ground beside his legs.

"Farkle?"

Farkle turned to face her, looking a little caught off guard. "Hey Maya."

"Hey, you." She walked over, texting Riley to open the door. "Why didn't you let us know that you're here? Why are you just standing outside? Riley's home, you know? Come in."

He grimaced. "Wait, I don't think that's such a—"

The front door suddenly ripped open, and Riley popped out in a towel with a smile before he could finish his sentence, her wet hair piled haphazardly on her head.

"Maya, I need help choosing my dinner outfit! How long are… you…"

Riley froze, sucking in a sharp breath as she stared up at Farkle. The glass of champagne slipped from her hand, falling as if in slow motion and hit the ground, the glass shattering loudly and liquid spilling out all over the tiles of the foyer.

"Farkle…?"


	45. Chapter 45

**A/N: Hi Crystal! You're very sweet! And I'm glad you've decided to start writing fanfiction! It's super fun :3 As for arms? Hellll yessssssss! I'm one of those girls who have a things for anyone's arms that have a cut ahahaha xD People think I'm weird too lol! But it's okay! We can be weirdos together!  
**

 **Thank you all for being so supportive and sweet to me! I don't deserve your kindness, but everything you all say is so heartwarming and touching. You guys are honestly the best! :3  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

Maya wasn't sure how long they stood in the doorway like that, Riley staring up at Farkle looking terrified, her hands trembling a bit, Farkle staring down at Riley intensely, and Maya looking at them both suspiciously, but after what seemed like forever, Maya started to get restless. This was ridiculous.

"Farkle…" Riley's brows furrowed in trepidation. "I… What are you doing here?"

"I'm photographer for your wedding."

What the hell was going on? Whatever suspicions Maya had about Riley and Farkle had now been amped up times ten-thousand. And it was _awkward_. She felt like she was trapped between two people with tension that couldn't go anywhere.

Maya cleared her throat, stepping over the broken glass in the foyer and standing next to Riley. "How about instead of standing here and staring at each other, why don't you come in Farkle? We have some time to kill before we go shopping."

The anxious look on Riley's face turned into one of downright fright and she subtly shook her head at Farkle. He sighed, rubbing the back of his head and shaking his head. Maya's eyes narrowed as she stared at Riley.

"It's not necessary. I just came here because I thought I should visit you guys. I'm going back to my hotel. I have to call Savannah anyway," Farkle responded.

"Savannah? What happened to Cecilia?" Maya asked.

"We had enough good times," he stated simply. "Maya, I came down here with Josh; got a ride from him. And he's been asking about you a lot. He's here at a lawyer's conference at Lucas' mom's firm."

Maya frowned. "What am I supposed to do with that info?"

He shrugged. "Just letting you know that he's in the city. And he's interested in you so you might run into him more often, you know?"

"I didn't realize he wanted to get punched in the face that badly." Her eyes narrowed. "I already told him I'm not interested."

"Don't shoot the messenger. Anyway, I have to go. I'll see you around, Maya. Bye Riley."

Farkle's gaze remained on Riley, but she stared at the ground, fidgeting nervously, her cheeks enflamed until Farkle left the apartment and disappeared down the hall.

"So…Want to tell me what all that was about?" Maya muttered darkly, shutting the apartment door. When she glanced over her shoulder, Riley had turned around and was trying to sneak away. "Oh hell no you don't! Get back here!"

Riley screamed and tried to hide in the bathroom, but Maya barrelled right through the door before she could get it shut and shoved it open, thanking her lucky stars that Riley had never been a particularly physically active girl. Riley fell to the floor with a yelp, landing on her stomach and trying to crawl away from Maya. Maya plopped herself right on Riley's bum, stopping her from escaping though Riley flailed like a flounder, trying to wriggle her way out.

"The sooner you stop trying to escape, the sooner I stop sitting on you." Maya fake yawned to emphasize her point. "I could do this all day."

Riley groaned, stopping her struggle and slumping. "For being so small, you are so heavy!"

"That's rude," Maya drawled. "Now tell me what happened with you and Farkle."

"Nothing happened! He's just not happy with the engagement."

"You're trying to lie to your best friend? Do you want to die from being tickled for an hour?" Maya said threateningly.

"No! Please, anything but that! I'll tell you!" Riley said in fright. Maya got off of her and leaned against the wall of the bathtub, waiting for Riley to sit up so she could tell her the kept secret. "Don't freak out, but…the night before I moved to Austin two years ago, after my going away party, I went home with Farkle."

Maya's breath caught, appalled. Holy…

"Did you guys have sex?!"

Riley's face burned. "No! At least, not… _intercourse_ intercourse."

"Wait, are you serious right now?" Maya couldn't believe her ears. "You hooked up with Farkle?!"

"We didn't _fully_ hook up! It didn't really go anywhere other than some making out, and I guess heavy petting. I stopped it from happening though. It just felt wrong for some reason. He'd had so many girlfriends and I wasn't comfortable being with him in that way when he still was a ladies man. I didn't want to ruin our friendship, and I had no guarantee that he would put aside his umm… habits." Riley sighed dejectedly. "And then Farkle told me he _loved_ me."

There was so much in that revelation that Maya couldn't categorize it all at once. In fact, she was pretty sure her brain had short circuited the minute Riley mentioned going home with Farkle.

"He wanted me to stay in New York with him… And I said no." Riley started picking at the strands of her purple bathroom rug. "And that was that. When I started dating Lucas after I moved Farkle barely talked to me."

That explained why he would keep changing the subject anytime anyone would ever bring up Riley. Maya had always thought it was just because he missed her and didn't want to be reminded that their best friend was halfway across the country. Now it all made sense.

"So once he found out about our engagement, he snapped," Riley continued, letting out a long sigh and blowing on a small piece of hair in the middle of her face that had gotten knocked from behind her ear with their roughhousing. "And then some harsh words were exchanged and before I knew it, he called me an idiot who didn't know what I wanted and was wasting my life with some guy who doesn't deserve me and I said if he felt that way he wasn't invited to the wedding and we ended on horrible terms and now he's here but we never resolved our fight and I don't know what to do because I don't even know how he feels anymore or if he still _loves_ me or something and I'm scared that him being here is going to mess up things and what if Lucas gets paranoid because of Farkle and our wedding gets wrecked because he's here?! Maya help me!"

"First, take some deep breaths before you hyperventilate. Your face is purple." Maya ran a hand through her hair as Riley took a couple deep breaths and let them out slowly. "That's what happened? The full story? No left out bits?"

"There's more."

"Oh God…" Maya's stomach was churning.

She felt like she was going to hurl. How had Riley been able to keep this a secret for so long without exploding? And how the heck had Maya not noticed what had gone on between her friends all this time? It certainly explained their awkwardness when they said bye to Riley at the airport. The way they were acting, it should have been obvious to Maya.

"When uh… when I told you I lost my virginity right after college ended, it wasn't to my boyfriend at the time."

" _You lost your virginity to Farkle_?!" Maya screamed in disgust. "Oh man, this is _nasty_! It's like hearing my brother and sister got it on!"

"Maya, it was an accident!"

"What? An _accident?"_ she said incredulously. "Did you just happen to _accidentally_ trip and _accidentally_ land on his junk and _accidentally_ pop your cherry?"

"He'd just broken up with that girl he dated all through college and he was upset about it and I was consoling him and one thing led to another…" Riley's face flushed a horrible, deep shade of red. "But we agreed to never mention it again. Shortly after, he became the ladies' man Farkle we know today."

" _Had_ you been thinking about it a lot even though you agreed to never mention it again?"

"No! I promise I was over it! At least, until I had to leave New York and then _that_ happened. I swear, Farkle's confession came out of nowhere! We were acting like normal friends up until then."

"Do you love Farkle too?" Maya asked, watching Riley's reaction carefully.

"As a friend. I promise Maya, I'm not conflicted or anything. I love Farkle a lot, but I'm _in love_ with Lucas. I just don't want this to become a big mess."

"It won't, Pumpkin. If you say you have no feelings for Farkle like that, then it's not a problem."

She looked so relieved. "So what now?"

"Well… Does Lucas know about the Farkle mess? Not that it's a problem." Maya hastened to explain when Riley gave her an anxious look. "It's just if you're going to act weird around Farkle all summer like you did just now, Lucas might wonder what your relationship is. So maybe clue him in beforehand so he doesn't get the wrong idea."

"Okay. I'll tell him about Farkle, but do you think he'll be mad?"

"Huckleberry?" Maya snorted. "I don't think so. He doesn't seem like the jealous type."

"Oh, thank goodness you're here, Maya!" Riley beamed, crawling over to Maya and wrapping her arms around her neck. "I would have freaked out if you weren't here to talk me out of this craziness! Thank you so much! I'll tell Lucas before we go to dinner!"

Maya believed Riley when she said all that Farkle business was over and done with, but why did it feel like something was about to get really screwed up? And why did she feel like Riley still wasn't being completely honest about something. She knew how Riley was. Losing her virginity had always been a big deal to her, and there was no way that Farkle being her partner in that hadn't affected her.

But how much was the question.


	46. Chapter 46

**A/N: My nose ring got ripped out of my nostril by my little cousin. Word of advice lol: when a child asks you 'what's that on your nose?', no matter how adorable, don't bend down and ask where?  
**

 **The chapter after this one will mark the halfway point. And then the _fun_ begins ;3**

 **I appreciate all of you guy's sweet comments! You guys are wonderful and I appreciate you all so much for everything you've done for me and all the support you've given me! Thank you for being patient with me in my long absences :3  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀**

* * *

"Riley, this is unacceptable," Maya growled, holding up the froufrou frills of the lavender monstrosity that Riley had wanted her to try on in disgust. "If you make the bridesmaids wear this, we're boycotting your wedding."

Riley laughed, putting on a different veil on her head and turning to and fro, fiddling with the jewels of the crown.

"You think I should get one that looks like a tiara? Ooh! Or maybe a wreath of flowers?"

"As long as it matches whatever style of dress you end up choosing," Maya responded as she unzipped the puffy purple dress to take it off.

She knew it would match whatever dress Riley chose though. In all their time trying on dresses, she'd been particularly drawn to the ones that were the most princess resembling with giant skirts, long trains, sweetheart necklines and cinched empire waists. They'd managed to narrow down styles to ten distinct ones and now were trying to find bridesmaids dresses that could match the location of the wedding along with Riley's theme choice. It was hard work, especially considering that the two themes didn't match up that well. Not to mention there'd been aisles and aisles of dresses to sift through. Maya was exhausted, but she knew they would have to keep looking until Riley found her dream dress.

"Here, try this on," Riley said, holding up a dress to Maya.

Maya frowned when she saw that it was a wedding dress.

"That's not a bridesmaid dress, Riley."

"I know, but I just thought it'd be fun if you tried one on too. Don't you think this would look really good on her?" Riley asked the clerk, who walked by with a giant pile of the dresses they'd decided against to return them to their proper place.

"Exquisite, madam," he responded dryly, a cross look on his face as he struggled to walk.

"See, Maya? He agrees too. Please put it on? For me?" She did her infamous puppy dog pout, and Maya groaned, knowing there was no way she could refuse when Riley did _that_.

"Fine."

Maya lifted her hands and Riley helped her get the dress on, tugging it down slowly and helping her to adjust it so it fit right.

"Oh my God!" Riley tittered excitedly, taking a step back and observing Maya. "You look so beautiful and magical and gorgeous, Maya! I need to grab my phone!"

She didn't feel magical, and she certainly didn't feel sparkly or anything like that. Maya didn't get what it was about these dresses that people freaked out over. They were made of flimsy material, too thick in some places, too thin in others. She couldn't move all that well either since her motions were definitely restricted by how tight the bodice was. She didn't get all the fuss about paying hundreds of dollars for all that poof and the frills when someone could easily tear a dress with one wrong step. Not to mention how ridiculous it was to buy this expensive ass dress that the bride would only wear once only for it to sit in her closet gathering dust for years.

"Don't take a picture of me in this! If my mom gets wind of this, she'll never leave me alone!"

"Are you kidding me? This might be the only time I'll ever see you in a wedding dress. I need to get at least a memento of this!"

Riley ran off and hurried towards the back of the room where she'd left her purse before Maya could even object to it again. She groaned under her breath, knowing that no matter her efforts, Riley would be dead set on getting a picture of her in one and if she took it off, Riley might sit on _her_.

But Maya couldn't lie that this dress wasn't altogether that bad. She kind of liked the style of it with the long lace sleeves and open back. Plus the dress was a soft mermaid style with a train that didn't drag too far behind her. It actually fit her curves well, and it wasn't obnoxiously grand like the kind of ball gown dress Riley really wanted.

(Which was a good thing because Maya was sure she would get engulfed or suffocated by any dress that big).

She spun around slowly, looking at herself in the angled mirrors and feeling kind of strange to see herself in a wedding dress. It was kind of surreal, like she wasn't seeing herself or something. Katy would never believe she'd actually stepped foot in one. Even at a young age, Maya had never wanted to try her mother's old wedding dress for fun.

"Anyone in… here…?"

She had turned around to see what her ass looked like in the dress and froze when she noticed Lucas, who was standing in the room, staring at her wordlessly. She blinked in surprise, unsure of what to do in this awkward scenario and still in her odd position, her bum poked out towards the mirrors. She must have looked so stupid! This was embarrassing.

"How long have you been in here?" she asked slowly, _appalled_ by his unexpected arrival.

"…I just got here. The guy at the front said you guys were in this room. I came to pick Riley up for dinner." He looked like he was trying hard not to burst out laughing. "If I knew you were having that much fun, I wouldn't have disturbed you."

"I'm not." She straightened up quickly, smoothing down the dress and trying not to blush in embarrassment. "I hate this monstrous dress."

"It looks good on you," Lucas said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You don't look like a marshmallow if that's any consolation."

"Thank you, but I still hate the way it looks."

"Lucas, you're here!" Riley came back in the room, phone in hand at the ready, and stopped in front of Maya, clicking a thousand pictures while Maya stared at her blankly. "Don't you think she looks so beautiful? She would make some guy such a lucky groom, and she doesn't even realize it! Maya, smile for the camera!"

"No."

"Just one little—"

"No."

"C'mon it's my only chance to—"

"No."

Riley pouted. "You're no fun."

"With good reason. Now you," Maya said, pointing to Lucas, "turn around so I can change out of this deathtrap. And you, Bubbles, help me get out of it."

Riley trudged up the stairs to the little platform Maya was standing on, giggling to herself as Maya tried unsuccessfully to get it off of her body. Riley took hold of the sleeves of the dress and slowly helped Maya out of it by pulling it over her head. Not for the first time, Maya was glad that her best friend was significantly taller than her to help her with things like this.

"You might act like you disliked it, but I know you, Peaches. Deep down, you liked it."

"It's true," Lucas said, laughing. "I saw her checking herself out in the mirror."

She felt the back of her neck go hot. "I was doing no such thing."

"Sure you weren't, Maya," he taunted.

Once Riley had gotten the dress off of her and Maya was comfortably back in her sundress and slipping on her trusty heels, she nudged Riley, jutting her chin out towards Lucas and giving her an expectant raised brow. Riley sighed, picking up hangers and helping Maya to put the rest of the dresses back on them.

"Lucas, I need to tell you something."

"What's wrong? Is it safe to turn around?"

"Yeah." Riley took a deep breath when Lucas turned around, looking at her worriedly. "Lucas, my other best friend Farkle is here in Austin. He stopped by earlier to say hi."

"Well that's great, isn't it?" He smiled. "Can't wait to meet him."

"Well the thing is… I guess we kind of had a thing before I moved to Austin." Riley looked at Maya nervously and she smiled at Riley, giving her a reassuring nod. "I'm not in love with him or anything, I promise, but we had a fight before I moved here and we haven't talked about the fight or resolved it yet and things between us are kind of awkward right now. But I promise _whatever_ we had is over!"

"Will you see him often?" Lucas asked after a few beats of silence, his brows furrowing.

"That's the thing; he's the photographer for our wedding," Riley said sheepishly. "So I'll be seeing him pretty often. But I promise nothing will happen between us because I only love him as a friend."

Lucas frowned, his expression pensive though he did look displeased. "So you hired him, Maya?"

"If I had known that they were dealing with that, I wouldn't have asked him to come down in the first place." Maya's eyes narrowed. Whatever he was trying to imply, she definitely didn't like. "I obviously wouldn't purposely bring drama for Riley, don't you think?"

"Are you mad?" Riley asked, walking over to Lucas and slipping her hands into his.

"…I guess not. I mean it _was_ a past relationship of yours," he responded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "He's one of your best friends. Besides you said you don't have feelings for him anymore. I trust you."

"Thank you, Lucas," she gushed.

"And anyway, I can't be mad. I've had many relationships in the past that aren't important anymore either. Plus there was that one crush…"

Lucas tapered off when his eyes met Maya's, and they stared at each other a bit awkwardly.

"Lucas?" Riley questioned, turning and glancing at Maya and then back at him in confusion.

He cleared his throat, returning his attention to Riley. Maya looked away too, gathering the dresses to get them back to the store clerk.

"That I should never have had," Lucas finished quickly. "I'm not worried as long as he doesn't try to make any moves on you. But maybe for the time being, until you know for sure how he feels about you, it might be better for you two not to be alone? You know, just a suggestion."

"Oh, I'm sure he's over me too. It won't be a problem at all for us to hang out!"

"Then problem solved. Everything's all good."

Maya frowned. There was something about Lucas' response that didn't sound like everything was all good. Not to mention the fact that his expression was guarded, being kept carefully blank.

"Alright then! Let me get my stuff so we can get to dinner." Riley tossed Maya her keys which she deftly caught. "You can take my car, Maya. I'm spending the night with Lucas."

"Spending the night, huh?" Maya said playfully. "That's one way to put it."

"Not like that, Maya. I'm resolved to wait until marriage." She grinned up at Lucas. "Although, I don't see the harm in a little bit of fooling around."

"You guys are torturing yourself for no reason," Maya responded, picking up the last dress and putting it on the pile she'd gathered in her arms. "Looks like you're not rounding home today. How are you going to survive this six month dry spell, Huckleberry?"

He smirked. "The same way you've been surviving yours."

Her brows shot up high on her forehead and she spun around, her eyes narrowed at him in shock.

"What did you say? How the hell do you know I…" Maya's jaw dropped and she stared at Riley when her best friend cowered a bit behind Lucas, looking guilty. "Did you tell him about that?"

"I'll uh… I'll meet you at the car, Lucas!" Riley giggled nervously, rushing out of the room to leave the store.

"Unbelievable. She needs to stop telling you things about me!"

"I think she thinks it'll help us converse more." Lucas looked too amused. "I don't mind them. I think it's great insight to your character. And good blackmail material."

"You're evil."

"I'm _resourceful_."

Maya didn't know why Riley thought some of her awkward life situations would be good conversation topics. She would definitely have to sit Riley down about this and figure out exactly what Lucas knew about her because she wasn't a fan of him knowing all these embarrassing secrets.

"Do you need some help with that?" Lucas gestured to all the stuff in her hands as they left the large bridal dressing room to the front of the store.

"I'm good. Go enjoy your date, Sundance. The night's not getting any younger."

"Alright, see you later, Shortstack."

Maya shot him a warning glare from the nickname, but he only laughed. "I don't appreciate the jabs at my height."

"Are you going to call me Lucas anytime soon?"

"Fat chance, _Heehaw_."

"Then Shortstack it is," Lucas said, heading out the main door with a wave. "So goodnight… _Shortstack_."

She shook her head and ignored his patronizing behaviour.

Maya headed to the clerk to return the dresses, feeling glad that Riley's little Farkle issue hadn't turned into some big argument. But she still couldn't help but wonder if Lucas was lying about being okay with it. His reaction had been altogether strange, some weird mix of disdain in his supposed understanding. He said the problem was solved, but she could see that same look in his eyes that Maya had had when Riley told her things with Farkle were over. Like he wouldn't quite be able to believe it until he saw it with his own eyes that things were definitely over.

It was good that these issues were being brought out in the open early on before their wedding, but she only hoped this wouldn't turn into something messy.


End file.
